#21 - Neal Davis: Urbit, Sentience, and DAOs

Neal Davis is a Computer Science Professor at UIUC and Urbit's director of developer experience. Since we started the UIUC Talkshow, we've said the show is about people who are sane in a way most people are crazy. Neal Davis is exactly one of them. It’s not surprise he believes we need to be weirder.   He started as a nuclear engineer but throughout his life, he's reflected on the definition of a "good and wise life." This led him to want to "elevate sentience" in his life and the life of others. A beautiful and unique pursuit. That philosophy guides the type of work he devotes himself to and that’s he how he found Urbit, an ambitious project to rebuild and rethink the internet from first principles. Join us on this conversation to learn more about Urbit, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), Balaji’s Network States, and why the best things that happen to you are accidents. This is the UIUC Talkshow.  EPISODE LINKS: Neal Davis' Twitter: https://twitter.com/sigilante Neal Davis’ Urbit: ~lagrev-nocfep Urbit's Website: https://urbit.org/ Urbit's Hackaton: https://uc4uc.com/ OUTLINE: 0:00 - Introduction 0:33 - Philosophy of life 3:45 - How to create movements 9:04 - DAOs 11:36 - Network States 18:10 - Urbit 32:02 - Urbit's startup opportunities 34:46 - Tools & Social Behavior 42:25 - Future of DAOs 46:48 - Individuals & Universities 49:55 - "Initiative is the road less taken" 55:05 - Ask forgiveness, not permission 56:40 - Future of EdTech 58:38 - Decentralization in the education system 1:03:15 - Thiel 1:04:44 - Advice to get involved with Urbit 🚥Overrated or Underrated Section 🚥 1:06:57 - 👨‍💻 John Carmack 1:08:21 - 🫠 CS 101 1:11:35 - 💻 MacOS 1:13:50 - Closing words SOCIAL: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uiuctalkshow Twitter: https://twitter.com/uiuctalkshow TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@uiuctalkshow Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3ezoc4xJa4DrGq7N4lhqQn Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-uiuc-talkshow/id1611427075 Full episodes playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1H9UJqXvJXr3qlx9c89Rv76c6IpnwGeC Clips playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1H9UJqXvJXqdyEq7fuyUz9cmpdfqN1Rb What is the UIUC Talkshow? Our goal with this show is to introduce to the most interesting people and most interesting people from the UIUC campus. Learn more about Juan David & Aaryaman: Aaryaman https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaryaman-patel-779437205/ Juan David Website: https://www.juandavidcampolargo.com/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/jdcampolargo  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdcampolargo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jdcampolargo/