17 Comments

Adam Mastroianni has an innovative idea for how we can train future scientists without putting them through the academic PhD meatgrinder. He wants to create small, independent research institutions (he calls them "science houses") that operate outside traditional university structures. This concept is part of Mastroianni's broader ideas for reforming the way scientific research is conducted and funded. See one of his Substack posts on the topic:

https://www.experimental-history.com/p/lets-build-a-fleet-and-change-the

He estimates that $15 million would be enough to endow a science house in perpetuity.

Expand full comment

again, similar to the Medici call back, I get the impression that back in the day, that's closer to how actual "Science" was done. (see also: salons)

Expand full comment

Nice! The startup I worked for got funded because our scientific founder got in a room with Bill Gates and walked out with a $10 million check. It wasn't a donation technically but non dilutatative VC from BMGF but the model can definitely work!

Expand full comment

I will be sending you an email this evening. I apologize in advance.

Expand full comment

I love this!! Both the ethos of RenPhil and your role with them

Expand full comment

This sounds very cool!

Expand full comment

Do the ideas for initiatives come primarily from the philanthropists or from the innovators?

How do you think about selecting the right innovators for the initiative?

Expand full comment

Love this post. Not smart enough to do or know science. I would like to use some AI software or low-paid contract workers to dub and subtitle lots of TV and movies into english, french, and hindi to facilitate language learning and nation-state formation in poor, fragmented states and membership by individuals in large and rich commercial and intellectual communities. Maybe also it would be good to subtitle them in major languages of poor countries. I would probably start with non-copyright material that is already available for free in some language. Who should I ask for advice about this? Who should I pay to do this?

Expand full comment

Super cool!!!

On my personal wishlist is for someone to make a gut bacteria probiotic that metabolizes or sequesters microplastics/PFAS to reduce amount that gets in to people. Somewhat skeptical of how bad microplastics/PFASs are for you but still think this could be useful.

Expand full comment

Love the vision!

Expand full comment

Does your organization have a plan for how to deal with cranks, scammers, and other people trying to get funding for genuinely worthless ideas without ending up with the same problems that government grants have? Once you start waving money around, a lot of grifters are going to come out of the proverbial woodwork and try to game the system.

I don't mean to sound like a doomsayer or anything, and your organization does sound like something that could be very useful, but scammers and fraudsters do exist and no plan survives contact with the enemy.

Expand full comment

we are...picky. in lots of different ways. just because i am letting randos send me emails doesn't mean many, or any, of them are necessarily getting funded.

Expand full comment

So fascinating! I want that hormone sensor

Expand full comment

Does RenPhil also consider support for nonprofits outside of hard science (e.g., econ or polsci work aiming to unlock new insights that could significantly affect government action)?

Expand full comment

yes; we have existing initiatives in education and immigration. I'm personally not the ideal person to evaluate social science, but if you shoot me an email with what you have in mind I can see if it might be a good fit for someone else to look into.

Expand full comment

Is the short form “RenPhil” deliberately chosen to sound so much like “RedPill”?

Expand full comment

not at all!

Expand full comment