= Why you should give money to Ciro Santilli
So that he can work full time on <OurBigBook.com> and revolutionize advanced university-level <science, technology, engineering, and mathematics> eduction for all ages.
Donating to Ciro is the most effective donation per dollar that you can make to:
* improve hardcore university-level <STEM> education for all ages
* help make every child into the next <Nobel Prize>/<Fields Medal>/<deep tech> unicorn co-founder
Ciro's goal in life is to help kids as young as possible to reach, and the push, the frontiers of <natural sciences> human knowledge, linking it to applications that might be the <the next big thing> as early as possible. Because nothing is more motivating to students than that feeling of:
\Q[Hey, I can actually do something in this area that has never been done before!]
rather than repeating the same crap that <enter through the narrow gate>[everyone is already learning].
To do this, Ciro wants to work in parallel both on:
* the multi-user website e-learning platform of <OurBigBook.com>
* creating amazing teaching content that motivates that platform, and that deeply interests Ciro, notably <quantum mechanics> and its related applications:
* <quantum computing>
* <molecular biology>
* <condensed matter physics> and <chemistry>
* slightly more theoretical stuff in somewhat related fields of:
* <mathematics>
* <quantum electrodynamics>
* continue to dump his brain/research in areas Ciro has expertise in: <software engineering> and <open source software>
Ciro believes that this rare combination of both:
* <articles>[proven passion and capability] to learn and teach <science, technology, engineering, and mathematics> subjects
* <Ciro Santilli's Stack Overflow contributions>[proven programming skills], including web development
produces a virtuous circle, because Ciro:
* wants to learn and teach, so he starts to create content
* then he notices the teaching tools are crap
* and since he has the ability to actually improve them, he does
As explained at <OurBigBook.com> and <high flying bird vs gophers>[high flying bird scientist], Ciro is most excited to make contributions at the <Middle Way>["missing middle level of specialization"] that lies around later undergrad and lower grad education:
* at lower undergrad level, there is already a lot of free material out there to learn stuff
* at upper graduate level and beyond, too few people know about each specific subject, that it becomes hard to factor things out
But on that middle sweet spot, Ciro believes that something can be done, in such as way that delivers:
* beauty
* power
in a way that is:
* in your face, without requiring you to study for a year
* but also giving enough precision to allow you to truly appreciate the beauty of the subject
Ciro's programming skills can also be used to create educational, or actually more production-like, simulations and illustrations.
Ciro believes that today's society just keep saying over and over: "<STEM> is good", "STEM is good", "STEM is good" as a <religious> mantra, but fails miserably at providing free learning material and interaction opportunities for people to actually learn it at a deep enough level to truly appreciate why "STEM is good". This is what he wants to fix.
The following quote is ripped from <Gwern Branwen>'s https://www.patreon.com/gwern[Patreon page], and it perfectly synthesizes how Ciro feels as well:
\Q[Omar Khayyam also came to the Vizier... but not to ask for title or office. 'The greatest boon you can confer on me,' he said, 'is to let me live in a corner under the shadow of your fortune, to spread wide the advantages of Science, and pray for your long life and prosperity.']
{title=Omar Khayyam's chill out quote}
In addition to all of this, financial support also helps Ciro continue his general community support activities:
* writing and updating his amazing <Stack Overflow> answers: <Ciro Santilli's Stack Overflow contributions>{full}
* saving the world from the CCP: <Ciro Santilli's campaign for freedom of speech in China>{full}