# Stanford Short Questions — Ideas Note: These are concise idea bullets rooted in your vault’s themes, phrased to enable brief, high‑signal answers. Select 1–2 bullets per prompt when drafting. ## 1) Most significant challenge society faces today (50w) - Coordination failure in a complex, interdependent world — we know enough to act (on climate, AI, health, education), but lack shared reality, incentives, and governance to do it together. (cf. “planetary dashboard,” systems/tipping points) - A crisis of meaning and attention — institutions and platforms optimize for control and engagement, not truth, wisdom, or capacity; this erodes trust and our ability to learn at scale. - Education’s mismatch with reality — we mass-produce credentials while under-developing agency, systems thinking, and the ability to use modern tools responsibly. One-sentence synthesis option: Our deepest problem isn’t technology but coordination — a meaning-and-governance failure that blocks collective action on climate, AI, and education. ## 2) How I spent my last two summers (50w) - 2025: Participant, Stanford E‑China U.S.–China Co‑Lab on Climate Solutions; collaborated on cross‑cultural climate problem‑solving. Kept a daily learning cadence (#百日百字), shipped small artifacts, and refined “Larc” (AI‑native learning agent) from user feedback. - 2024: UWC Short Course in Vietnam (Doing Good). Designed “Odyssey” futures based on Stanford Life Design; fieldwork on sustainability and systems; began “The Education I Want” micro‑poetry/mini‑book + site. Micro‑hooks to add if space: reading/research sprints; publishing notes in public; running small writing community sprints. ## 3) Historical moment I wish I’d witnessed (50w) - Gutenberg’s press in action — the first sheets moving from elite custody of knowledge to public reach. Tools reshape realities; printing decentralized authority like the Internet and will again through AI. - Alternate that fits your vault: a democratic meeting at the early Sudbury Valley School — witnessing agency and governance learned in practice, not lecture. One-sentence option: The first run of Gutenberg’s press — a world shifts as knowledge becomes copyable. ## 4) Elaborate on one extracurricular, job, or family responsibility (50w) - College Council — Vice Chairman: I focused on process over posture — clear agendas, time‑boxed debate, and feedback loops that turned student voice into decisions. Learned to negotiate trade‑offs, make rules legible, and design for consent, not compliance. - Alt pick if needed: Co‑founded school TV (Maastricht Island Network) — built a lightweight pipeline for stories that matter to students; learned to ship, iterate, and respect audience attention. - Alt pick: Mock Trial — Operations Manager — ran logistics and rehearsal systems; precision under constraints taught me calm execution. One‑sentence option: I design small governance systems that let communities make real decisions and stick to them. ## 5) Five things that are important to me (list only) 1) Learning as transformation — turning information into judgement, action, and care. 2) Agency with responsibility — empowerment that expands others’ capacity, not just my options. 3) Education that fits reality — self‑directed, tool‑literate, systems‑aware. 4) Shared knowledge, shared future — transparency, legible rules, and communities that learn together. 5) Stewardship of people and planet — climate, dignity, and long‑term thinking. --- Evidence threads in vault to cite if needed: - Planetary dashboard; non‑linearity/tipping points; climate research notes; “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster.” - UWC Vietnam Short Course (Doing Good) — Odyssey, systems/fieldwork; Stanford E‑China Co‑Lab. - Sudbury visit; alternative schooling research; personal mission (“heal people and planet”). - Resume: College Council (Vice Chair), school TV (co‑founder), newspaper editor, Mock Trial (ops). - #百日百字 writing cadence; “The Education I Want” micro‑book.