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Truth, love, and beauty are all pursued for their own sake, even if they make us worse off.

To: Admitted Students on Ivy Decision Day From: UATX Congratulations. Getting in was hard and you should be proud. Now here’s some unsolicited advice so you don’t waste the next four years. Go to class. We know this sounds obvious. But as the New York Times reported recently, Harvard students routinely skip class, rarely speak up when they're there, and focus on their devices instead of the discussion. Faculty say few students do enough preparation to contribute meaningfully. The average college student spends about 20 hours a week on class and studying combined. At UATX, we aim for 50. That’s the difference between a part-time commitment and a full-time job. You (or your parents) are about to spend upwards of $90K a year. If you don't show up, you're paying roughly $250 per skipped lecture for the privilege of sleeping in. Read the books yourself. Your generation is the first to arrive at college post-literate — raised on short-form video, dependent on algorithms, and increasingly incapable of sitting with a difficult text long enough to let it change your mind. Ninety percent of college students use AI academically. This makes you more reliant on the authority of others. Most professors will also stand between you and the text. They’ll tell you what Marx “really meant,” what Aristotle “failed to see,” as though an academic in 2026 has outsmarted minds that shaped civilizations. The good professors do the opposite: they put you in front of the book and they work with you to find what a great mind has to teach us directly. Find those professors, and read everything yourself. Say what you actually think. Seventy-three percent of conservative students report withholding their political views in class out of fear their grades will suffer. Our advice isn't political; it's intellectual. If you spend four years learning to say what's expected instead of what's true, you’ll graduate roughly where you started — just older, more credentialed, and more practiced at self-censorship. One study finds that nearly half of students show no measurable gains in “critical thinking” after two years in college. Keep this in mind as you make decisions about which professors to take and how to do your assignments. Taking a small hit on your paper to gain integrity and wisdom is usually worth it. Ask for real grades. Sixty percent of Harvard undergraduate grades are now A’s. Twenty-five years ago, it was 20%. It got so bad that the legendary Harvard professor, Harvey Mansfield, started giving students two grades: the official one for their transcript, and a private one reflecting what they actually earned. He called the official grades “ironic.” So here's a suggestion: Take your A, but also ask your professors for a “Mansfield grade” so that you know where you stand. And don’t avoid difficult courses to keep your transcript clean for law school. Get work experience before you graduate. Forty-two percent of recent college graduates are working jobs that don't require a degree. Many employers are projecting the next few years to be the worst college grad job market in years. A degree alone — even from an Ivy — is not a job guarantee. Seek out apprenticeships, internships, and real work starting freshman year. The students at UATX are connected with entrepreneurs and business leaders from day one. Many will graduate with four years of work experience alongside their degree. You can build something similar at your school, but you'll have to do it yourself. Understand how debt shapes your life. If you're paying full freight or even half, do the math with your eyes open. Your decision to take on debt will quietly reshape the trajectory of your adult life through countless small surrenders: the job you take because it’s safe instead of starting the company. The city you choose to live in. The relationship you delay and the kids you don’t have. For women, a $1,000 increase in student loan debt lowers the odds of marriage by 2% per month in the first four years after graduation. None of that shows up in the college brochure. If you're going to take on debt, treat it like the constraint it is from day one: save aggressively and make sure every dollar is buying something that will actually compound in your favor. Find the people who take school seriously. The best thing about a great school isn't the lectures or the library. It's the handful of professors and students who are genuinely there to learn — who read ahead, argue in good faith, and push you to be sharper. Find them. UATX is a small community of those who seek a serious education. At a larger university, you have to build this community yourself. * The most dangerous thing about an elite university is that it is very easy to do nothing for four years and still come out looking successful. The transcript will say you excelled. The diploma with the fancy crest will open certain doors. Your parents will be proud. And yet you will have coasted — through inflated grades, unread books, and borrowed opinions. Getting in is an accomplishment. Making the next four years worth it will be harder, and the right decisions will change everything. We wish you luck.

“Mental illness” is to illness as “social science” is to science.

Wealth is the ability to make things happen.

I have significantly added to the content in “The Farthest Reaches” video and podcast series and turned the resulting transcript into a free ebook. Link below. Sometime in the coming days I will release the audiobook version of the same.

A new study published in JAMA demonstrated equal benefit for self-fitting, over-the-counter (OTC) #HearingAids compared to prescription ones. MORE ON THIS HERE: massdevice.com/study-otc-hear… #Otolaryngology #ENT #Audiology @JAMAOto @UPTuks @CUBoulder @JAMANetwork @AmerMedicalAssn

The #FDA said it is clarifying claims by Philips that it has shipped 2.46M replacement #RespiratoryDevices & repair kits in the U.S. The agency claims the number is considerably less than the 2.46M. MORE HERE: massdevice.com/fda-questions-… #CPAP #Regulatory #Medtech #Respiratory

The agency recommended that owners switch to a backup if there is any visible swelling in the hand-held reader or if it becomes too hot to hold. fiercebiotech.com/medtech/fda-up…

David Deutsch, Tim Ferriss, and Naval Ravikant — The Fabric of Reality And Much More youtu.be/FfWbcrObpUY

“Wealth is not a number. I don’t think it can be characterized very well by a number. It is the set of all transformations that you are capable of bringing about. That is your wealth. And if optimism is true, then there’s no limit to wealth.” — David Deutsch (@DavidDeutschOxf) tim.blog/2023/03/23/dav…

If you're not working hard, ideas don’t matter. The best idea is worthless without execution. If you're already working hard, ideas are crucial. Most effort is wasted on mediocre ideas.

A group of high-profile healthcare investors including Medtronic and Novo Holdings have found an apt outlet for the money seemingly burning holes in their pockets. fiercebiotech.com/medtech/novo-m…

More than 1M people may have had #PersonalData compromised during a recent hacking of #ZollMedical’s systems. That’s according to a notice that Zoll filed with Maine’s attorney general. MORE ON THIS HERE: massdevice.com/zoll-data-brea… #Healthtech #Regulatory #Cybersecurity

#Stryker announced that it launched the Mako Total Knee 2.0 as part of its Mako SmartRobotics portfolio. MORE ON THIS HERE: massdevice.com/stryker-launch… #Healthtech #Ortho #Robotics #Surgical

Johnson & Johnson is letting go of nearly 350 employees in the #SurgicalRobotics space, according to layoff notices filed in California at the beginning of this month. MORE ON THIS HERE: massdevice.com/johnson-johnso… #RoboticSurgery #OrthoRobotics #OrthoSurgery #Finance

Layoffs in medtech: These companies recently reduced their workforce massdevice.com/medtech-layoff… @MassDevice

Amid reports of layoffs within Johnson & Johnson's Janssen pharmaceutical division and outgoing consumer health group, the job cuts have now reached J&J’s medtech division. fiercebiotech.com/medtech/johnso…

MedTech Europe welcomes the adoption of the amendment of the Medical Devices and In Vitro Diagnostics Regulations. This amendment mitigates the risk of immediate shortages of medical technology across Europe 🇪🇺 👉 Our press release: bit.ly/3L2Qomj

EU Council Adopts MDR/IVDR Amendment Proposal bit.ly/3L1awFm