Hi Reddit, I’m Theo Baker, author of HOW TO RULE THE WORLD, a book about fraud and avarice in Silicon Valley’s training ground. When I was 17, I began investigating the president of my university, leading to his resignation. Ask me anything!
I always dreamed of going to Stanford, a tech nirvana where Olympic athletes lounge around with nuclear physicists. I was a coder and a total tech nerd. But when I arrived as a freshman, I quickly found that something was amiss. There was a culture, I learned, of cut corners—fraudulent companies, get-rich-quick schemes, and deception.
Seeing this from one side as an aspiring techie, I also began to see it from the other side, when I joined the student newspaper. I began investigating research misconduct in studies co-authored by Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne, a wealthy and influential neuroscientist/former biotech executive/entrepreneur. He resigned as a result.
HOW TO RULE THE WORLD is about the kids being trained to rule the world, and what they’re learning from those who already do. I’m so eager to discuss it with you all and look forward to answering your questions! I’ll be back here WEDNESDAY AUGUST 19 at 10am pacific/1pm eastern.
For those curious to read more about the book, here’s a review, an excerpt, a print interview, a TV interview, and a website with more details.
Proof: https://imgur.com/a/FAE12m4
I’m honored that the book has been named one of the best books of the year by the New York Times, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, and elsewhere. It came out about three weeks before my own graduation from Stanford this June.
Edit: Thank you to everyone for joining! The AMA is closed now and I really appreciated your questions.