LibertyCon Prague: Gathering of the open minded
There is a famous quote by Mark Twain that says: “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.” This translates to me as the person who chooses not to act is no better than the person who doesn’t know how to act. And exactly that is my criticism with the liberal community.
For more than four years I have been visiting conferences and workshops around liberal ideas. Is has been incredible for exchanging information, for building a network of like-minded persons and as a valuable learning process for new topics. But what I had been missing was the most important part: action. I felt that there were too many people who, when given the knowledge and tools to do great things, chose to continue philosophizing instead.
LibertyCon
In March this year I visited the LibertyCon in Prague, the biggest European gathering of pro-liberty students and young professionals. I was very glad to see that the community had also made its shift towards a more hands-on approach. Conversations two years ago changed from theoretical macro-economics to “this is how you send digital currency in 3 seconds”. Many people are actively engaged in the change they want to see in the world by either contributing to a project or collaborating on small businesses.
Praxis
Two very interesting projects I ran into during the event were Praxis and Exosphere. Praxis is a 9 month startup apprenticeship program that hopes to make college obsolete. Their Director of Marketing — a 23 year old college dropout — held an impressive lecture on how easy it can be to get the job you want. I caught Derek Magill after the Q&A to get a small glimpse into the head of this young creative.
Exosphere
Also present at the conference: Moritz Bierling who I worked with during my time at Exosphere in Chile. Exosphere describes itself as a learning and problem-solving community. They are making science, technology, and entrepreneurship approachable through education and empower exceptional talent to develop startups & intellectual property in revolutionary fields. Moritz is the former Director of Research at Exosphere. In the interview we talk about the rise of new education programs and why the Exosphere model is so successful.
Impressions
