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Aubrey de Grey - How to Become a Successful Heretic

2,067 views · Published 31 December 2011 · 8:19 · Indexed 4 November 2026

Channel: Science, Technology & the Future · 2011 · Nonprofits & Activism

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Aubrey de Grey speaks on how to become a successful heretic.

1. Be right (diligence before oratory).  Sean Carroll: "Being a heretic is hard work". It's not enough to disagree with mainstream thinking - you actually have to be correct. "Galileo was a heretic, but understood the reigning orthodoxy at the time better than anyone else." Very few people work that hard: "Many casual heretics can't be bothered."

3. Be a doer (as well as a talker). One reason to take de Grey seriously is the number of people who've taken him seriously, pledging huge sums to support his research.  You have to work very hard to raise these sorts of sums... and fundraising is a form of doing, even if it doesn't feel like it.

8. Be inspirational (and have a team that's organizational).

9. Be selfless (remember that control is only a means to an end) - Don't control all your work too carefully - you make progress by reliquishing control to other people to take your idea forward.


Interview buy Adam A. Ford -  held at Polytechnic University Hong Kong.
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