In May 2021, the young and foolish podcast was created. However, the idea was born almost two years earlier. The story began when George Wang wanted to express his thoughts on the internet and get people thinking. Being unsure of how to best articulate his ideas, he explored his options: YouTube, podcasting, and blogs. In the end, with his busy schedule and the belief that his messages would be misconstrued, he let the idea marinate in the background.
As his consumption of podcasts increased overtime, he became fond of the concept of long-form conversations between individuals, realizing that it was a plausible way for him to accurately present his ideas. Therefore, one whole year after he first birthed the idea, he found the right option. Now, he just needed to find the right people to discuss his ideas and interesting topics with. Naturally, he reached out to one of his best friends, Lorenzo Sierra, over discord, whom he already enjoyed having intriguing conversations with, and proposed his podcast idea. Lorenzo liked the concept and agreed to participate in the project; they both also decided to wait until the semester was over to start, for the sake of maximizing their focus. Around the same time, they mentioned this idea to their friend, Raymond Xiao, who regularly chatted with them on discord, and asked if he was interested. Raymond gave an ambiguous answer at first, as he was interested but unsure if he actually wanted to embark on this journey with his boys. When the semester was nearing the end, George took the idea more seriously and put in more thought on the logistics of it, with the first step being reaching out to his friends again to confirm their commitment. Lorenzo was still down and Raymond said that he was up for it too. Thus, the true journey began.
With the aim to inspire people to engage in candid long-form dialogues that deepen their understanding of themselves, others, and the modern world, they wanted to discuss relevant and interesting topics on life, society, and philosophy. Knowing their direction, they then needed a name. As they were born in 2000, they were obviously young. However, why do they call themselves foolish? Well, they understood that the more a person knows, the more they would realize just how little they really knew. An expert in any field could tell you the current limitations and the gaps in knowledge in their field. They would also understand how limited their knowledge of other fields must be, given the effort and experience that was required to reach the depth of knowledge they have of their field. Besides, young and foolish is catchy, fun, and marketable.
With the aim and the name established, they were ready to record. However, before the first episode was even filmed, George had learned to create logos, design graphics, edit video and audio, and understand the logistics of publishing a podcast. It really showed that the beautiful thing about starting something new is thinking and learning about things you would never think about before. Fittingly, the first ever episode of the young and foolish podcast was about taking on challenges. As they continued to record episodes and working on the podcast, they developed skills in making thumbnails, building a website, and most importantly, communicating their ideas. Their content is constantly improving and their discussions are always interesting. George's original idea grew into an incredible project with the help of his friends.
The young and foolish podcast was born and is now growing every day. Tune into our conversations and let us know your thoughts on the topics.