Operation Self-Education: An Antidote to Modern Indoctrination and Vices
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."
If you're like me, you spent the better part of two decades as a student in our not-so-modern education system.
How much of the information they presented and tested you on was ever personally useful to you? 5%? 10?
Truth is, the current Rockefeller education model always was, is, and ever shall be optimized for 1) obedience to authority and 2) ability to memorize and short-term rote recall.
Information's value degraded as the Internet scaled--AI has obliterated what remained. American factory-worker jobs began drying up around 50 years ago; mid-level corporate jobs seem to be about twenty years into a similar trajectory.
What's worse (regarding our subject of education, anyway), the first--bureaucratic obedience to authority--has enabled ideological capture that is the very antithesis of education.
Basically, most of what we're taught from 5-21+ in schools is at best benign, recall drilling with zero intrinsic use to the student, and at worst an all-too-common way to effectively transmit propaganda.
The good news is, Ultimately, all learning is self-learning.
You, Considerate Reader, can choose what information you pay attention to retain, and act on. You can choose to explore new ideas with an open mind. You can choose to accept and respond to the role influence plays in our post-digital lives. The latter begins with awareness.
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This self-directed (hypothetical) degree is designed to equip (metaphorical) graduates with the knowledge to successfully operate in today’s reality. We take a gestalt approach to deliver information not covered in traditional organized institutions: Physical Education, Economics, Nurtrition, and Applied Psychology.
While in-depth investigations into the following texts could easily equate to / constitute a (theoretical) associate’s degree, the valuable info can be scaled to virtually all age groups, young to elderly.
In other words, here is a flexible self-guided curriculum for what they should but (purposely!) don’t teach you in schools:
Human Upgrade 101 — MINDSET
Mindset was one of only two or three books Tony Robbins named—after saying this is out of over a thousand read—on a Tim Ferriss podcast, circa 2014. It is now the book I have gifted the most to other people (a favorite question of the host). Learning how to learn is the linchpin skill for successful education.
Mindset is the most compelling data-backed case for the importance of an internal locus of control; things that happen to you are (for the most part) under your control. Also lays out an overall framework and approach to optimize both learning and teaching.
The internal locus and growth-focused skills acquisition are
foundational principles that enhance Human Upgrade (HU) courses and any further
educational pursuits.
Human Upgrade 102 — BECOMING A SUPPLE LEOPARD
This is, by far, the best book on biomechanics. That is to say, on how to move the human body. Gold for physical therapy, elite sports performance, and everything in between. HD photos of masterful instruction from Dr. Kelly Starrett on how to operate and address issues anywhere on the body.
The first few chapters should be taught—and then reaffirmed and refined—the first two weeks of every PE class. Namely: 1) 5-step process to stand in neutral-spine position and 2) how to generate external rotation, torque, through the hips and shoulders to maximize both safety and strength.
Stand, walk, injury prevention, run—then sports and other fitness.
Sitting for hours leads to a whole host of posture, skeletal, and other issues. [Happily noticed I’m writing this standing at my desk before inking that last sentence.]
Dr. Starrett provides world-class, game-changing instruction on how to optimize the way you move.
The first 5 chapters of Becoming a Supple Leopard should
inform the foundation of physical education. The appendix provides a way to
workshop and test based on student’s individual needs.
Human Upgrade 103 — INFLUENCE
Foundational text for practical psychology, marketing, and
persuasion. Dr. Cialdini categorizes and clarifies the way influence is used—both
as a tool and a weapon—in our society.
I have been this book's advocate for a long time.
Human Upgrade 104 — DEEP NUTRITION
The was a recommendation for resources on diet information by Dr. Starrett. It gives compelling evidence that a lot of modern diets and “conventional” nutrition wisdom are suboptimal, to say the least.
It’s paradigm-shifting and worth an open-minded
investigation.
Human Upgrade 105 — BASIC ECONOMICS
Most approachable entry to an alternative school of economics, one (shadow)banned from virtually every university and other school.
Well-rounded students—and well-informed citizens—should have
an elementary grasp of Austrian (vs. Keynesian) economics. It’s a prerequisite
for a qualified opinion on macro-economic issues.
Human Upgrade 201 — AGE OF PROPAGANDA
Living in a society where we are shown millions of messages meant to influence our behavior every year necessitates a deeper exploration of propaganda. This is increasingly more important with AI’s exponential advancement.
This (hypothetical) course investigates how propaganda is
used to impact individual and group behaviors.
Human Upgrade 202 — CAPITALISM
It is anti-education, anti-society, and, frankly, downright ignorant to rail against something one has truly never explored one’s self. Rand and every genuine Capitalist would or does hate the crony corporatism as much or more than anyone else.
Capitalism is a separation of Economy and State. More regulation and government intervention, by any State entity, pushes a nation further away from the (so far!) unrealized Ideal.
Rand shreds Collectivism in all its flavors, including drawing horseshoe parallels to modern (then) left and the National Socialist Workers Party of Germany. She rejected the authoritarian left just as much as the right. That’s why her work is fiercely barred in ivory-tower academic circles; they are programmed to laughs and dismiss Ayn Rand, never having read a single word she wrote.
Capitalism is the best encapsulation of the economic philosophy that founded the United States and powered it Industrial Revolution.
This Capitalism steelman needs to be weighed and considered
before any advocacy for any Collectivist (Communism, Socialism, Nationalism,
etc.) ideology. That is, before believing more power to the State is the
solution.
Human Upgrade 203 — BEN FRANKLIN BLUEPRINT
Gateway into Revolutionary American culture and philosophy. Text is a curation of Ben Franklin’s collected Wisdom in Poor Richard’s Almanack plus the 13 Virtues from his Autobiography. The intention is to introduce historic, culturally-significant works to twenty-first century readers.
Full Disclosure: I produced and published Ben Franklin
Blueprint on October 10, 2025.
Extra Credit: Human Upgrade 401 — ANTIFRAGILE
Comprehending raw source material (the book itself, not scaled lessons) will require a significantly higher reading proficiency than associate level courses.
Antifragile is the essential text on risk-management, practical statistical thinking, and the cost of interventionism. The author may not be the most genial fellow—he has an infamous reputation around his social media interactions; he blocked me on X (when it was still formerly Twitter) years ago for suggesting Bitcoin was a Black Swan he didn’t see—but he’s a statistics savant. His copiously data-backed insights on risk management are definitive and supreme.
Book is highly academic but subversive and low school adoption due to impact it would have on all industries, especially banking and finance. Worth its weight in platinum for investing, employment, games, and navigating modern life in general.
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The Education Industrial Complex’s systems, networks, and nodes are comprised on hierarchical-aligns and -programmed humans. One cannot simply obtain root access and then inject—beneficial, antidotal—libraries. Big, bureaucratic ships take a great deal of time and other capital invested to shift a single degree from entrenched course.
You and I both know this.
Independent educators, organizations, and individuals are where the desperately-needed innovations and upgrades in education will originate.
If you are one of these and interested in talking more about Operation: Self-Education, feel encouraged to contact me.
Ultimately, all learning is done voluntarily and on an individual basis. Human brains retain information when they are in emotionally-engaged states; education should aim for happy curiosity. A person cannot force another to truly integrate any academic information—past the point of obedient regurgitation.
"Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is."
-Issac Asimov
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