The beloved Danielle Strachman, co-founder of the Thiel Fellowship and founder of 1517 Fund, joins The Hope Axis to discuss why hope is taboo in modern discourse, the power of positive naiveté in young founders, why community building requires faith over metrics, and how younger and younger people are reaching the frontiers of knowledge faster than ever before. Hope you enjoy!

You can find the transcript of our conversation here.

Important Links:

• Danielle's LinkedIn
• Her Substack
• 1517 Fund
• X Profile
• Thiel Fellowship

Shownotes:

(00:00 ) Guest Introduction

(00:24 ) Existential Hope and Resource-Unconstrained Futures

(02:30 ) Why Hope Requires Intellectual Defense While Pessimism Gets a Free Pass

(08:04 ) Tech-Optimism in the 1980s vs. Doom-and-Gloom in the '90s

(11:01 ) Positive Naïveté as a Superpower for Young Founders

(11:52 ) The Unexpected Evolution of Mentors

(21:38 ) Why Community Building is a Faith-Based Activity

(22:24 ) The $50 Bagels Story: Four Attendees Including Vitalik Buterin

(25:54 ) Teen Camp and Playing the Long Game

(28:32 ) The Burning Man Principle: You Get What You Give

(34:12 ) All Children Are Gifted Until Systems Squash Them

(44:27 ) Community as an Ambition Accelerator

(46:41 ) Raising Humanity's Collective Hope Levels