Program · 8 Weeks · 6–8 hrs / week · Cohort-based · Global

Eight weeks to learn what a child inventor already knows.

A deep-dive curriculum designed with mentors from the Latimer Institute, the systems logic of HUMAN 120, and the five-pass teaching craft of Cinema MBA. Each week has one job, one framework, one live Noble, and one shipped artifact.

Live seminar · 90m

Noble guest · 60m

Office hours · 60m

Readings · 90m

AI reflection · 60m

Build time · 120m+

Peer review · async

Sunday ship · 23:59

From Latimer Institute

Weekly framework rhythm. Guest luminary per week. Hands-on with 2–3 AI Guides. One virtual field trip per topic.

From HUMAN 120

One job per week. Measurable pillars, not vibes. No phase advances until the prior one is provably stable.

From Cinema MBA

Every idea taught in five progressive Feynman passes. If a 12-year-old can't retell it in one minute, it's not finished.

WEEK 01

Learning to See the Nobles

Core Question

“Who in my community is already inventing, and have I taken them seriously?”

One Job This Week

Prove — on paper — that at least five young inventors exist within an hour of where you live.

Learning Objective

Train the eye to find young innovators in the places grown-ups have stopped looking.

Deeper Aim

The first technology is attention. Before mentorship, before funding, before press, comes the discipline of noticing which children are already fixing something, and treating that as evidence of an inventor, not a hobby.

Frameworks Introduced

The Noticing Ledger

A living page in your notebook where any fix a child makes gets logged before it gets judged.

The MacGyver Principle

The intelligence in the fix is a function of the constraint the fix answered.

Weekly Rhythm

Live seminar

90 min

Jon, Sandhi, or Bruce open the week; one framework introduced with three visual case studies.

Noble guest hour

60 min

A living Noble in unhurried conversation — no interview format, no adult moderating over her.

Office hours

60 min

Small-group Zoom with a founding mentor. You bring the week's rough draft; they push back.

Readings

90 min

Long-form, chosen for pressure — not comfort. Two chapters, one interview, one archival piece.

AI reflection

60 min

One structured session with a named Guide (Mira, Lew, or Richard) that ends in a written pass.

Build time

90–150 min

The week's project. Ships to the cohort gallery before Sunday midnight local.

Five Feynman Passes

each pass ends in a real artifact

1 · Notice

list

20 raw observations of children fixing things, no filter

2 · Name

title

five candidate Nobles with one sentence each, in her own words

3 · Verify

check

one photograph, one artifact, one witness per Noble

4 · Simplify

explain

the fix explained so a 12-year-old peer can rebuild it

5 · Return

gift

the Noble receives her own dossier page and signs off

Readings

·Kamkwamba, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
·Selected Nobles dossier, Latimer Institute
·Prahalad, Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid (Intro)

Cases

·William Kamkwamba · Malawi
·Richard Turere · Kenya
·Gitanjali Rao · United States

AI Guides Practiced

·Mira · systems
·Lew · historian
·Signal · daily feed

Virtual Field Trip

Wimbe, Malawi

Walk the compound where William Kamkwamba's windmill still turns.

Live Debate

“Is 'child prodigy' the wrong frame — a costume the world puts on a Noble to avoid taking her seriously?”

Measurable Pillars (must be true before Week 02)

Five verified Nobles within a 60-minute radius, logged with name, age, location, and fix.
One in-person visit to a Noble's workspace this week — not a phone call.
Zero uses of the word 'prodigy' in your notes; the word is a costume, not evidence.
Every observation timestamped and geo-tagged so the cohort library can reuse it.

Guest

William Kamkwamba (recorded conversation)

Shipped Artifact

The Local Nobles Map — five dossiers, each signed by the young inventor or her guardian.

Success Signal

You stop needing our list. You start sending us names we haven't heard.

WEEK 02

Constraint as Creative Force

Core Question

“How does a kid with no budget out-invent a lab with a big one?”

One Job This Week

Ship a working household fix using only what is already in your home tonight.

Learning Objective

Internalize the MacGyver Principle through the actual workbenches of famous child Nobles.

Deeper Aim

Reframe scarcity as brief. Study the specific materials — bicycle chains, Christmas lights, LEDs, mango peels, junkyard PVC — that turned into world-changing prototypes in the hands of children.

Frameworks Introduced

Constraint Ledger

Before designing, list every material, tool, and hour you are NOT allowed to use.

The $2 Test

If the marginal cost per unit isn't under two dollars, the design is unfinished.

Weekly Rhythm

Live seminar

90 min

Sandhi walks a frugal-engineering teardown of a famous Noble prototype.

Noble guest hour

60 min

Ann Makosinski or Kelvin Doe (recorded) on what they broke before it worked.

Office hours

60 min

Bring your bill of materials. Sandhi cuts it in half, live.

Readings

90 min

Radjou & Prabhu, plus one field report from a village workbench.

AI reflection

60 min

Ship Guide runs a prototype critique; you rewrite the thesis in one sentence.

Build time

120–180 min

Hands-on: prototype, film, ship.

Five Feynman Passes

each pass ends in a real artifact

1 · Problem

state

the household problem in one sentence a stranger understands

2 · Inventory

list

every material and tool available under your own roof

3 · Prototype

build

the first ugly version, filmed in one take

4 · Break

test

three failure modes documented before you fix any of them

5 · Simplify

cut

the final version with one fewer part than the prototype

Readings

·Radjou & Prabhu, Frugal Innovation
·Ann Makosinski, TED talk
·Kelvin Doe, MIT visiting practitioner profile

Cases

·Ann Makosinski · Hollow Flashlight (Canada)
·Kelvin Doe · DIY radio (Sierra Leone)
·Easton LaChappelle · 3D-printed arm (US)

AI Guides Practiced

·Ship · prototype sharpener
·Venture · first-dollar coach
·Impact · 3Ps

Virtual Field Trip

Freetown, Sierra Leone

Kelvin Doe's junkyard-to-radio-station route, retraced on the ground.

Live Debate

“Is a child's invention diminished when an adult 'productizes' it, or protected?”

Measurable Pillars (must be true before Week 03)

Marginal cost per unit ≤ $2 in local currency-adjusted terms.
Bill of materials fits on one index card.
One filmed failure precedes the working version.
A 12-year-old peer can rebuild it from your instructions with zero help.

Guest

Kelvin Doe or Ann Makosinski (recorded)

Shipped Artifact

One shipped fix — object, one-take video, one-card bill of materials, one-page instructions.

Success Signal

You catch yourself removing parts, not adding them.

WEEK 03

Amplification Without Extraction

Core Question

“How do you tell a young inventor's story without stealing it?”

One Job This Week

Write a 400-word Noble profile the Noble signs off on, word for word.

Learning Objective

Learn the ethics and craft of amplifying a child's work so credit, control, and upside stay with the child.

Deeper Aim

The history of child inventors is also a history of adults who took the byline. Study the good models — Kamkwamba's TED partnership, the way Boyan Slat retained control of The Ocean Cleanup — and the bad ones.

Frameworks Introduced

Amplification, not Extraction

Every word, image, and dollar moves toward the Noble — never away.

The Signed-Off Sentence

No sentence about a Noble is publishable until she has read it and initialed it.

Weekly Rhythm

Live seminar

90 min

Jon on the ethics and craft of amplifying a child without taking her byline.

Noble guest hour

60 min

An editor who has published a Noble at scale, in conversation with the Noble herself.

Office hours

60 min

Q Guide-assisted line-edit of your draft with a founding mentor.

Readings

90 min

BoP Protocol 2.0, UN CRC Article 12, and three worked media case studies.

AI reflection

60 min

Q rewrites your profile in the Noble's voice. You choose what to keep.

Build time

90–120 min

Draft, sign-off round, publish to the cohort gallery.

Five Feynman Passes

each pass ends in a real artifact

1 · Listen

record

60 minutes of the Noble in her own words, unedited

2 · Draft

write

400 words, no adjectives that carry pity

3 · Return

read aloud

the draft read back to the Noble, in person or on video

4 · Revise

cut

every sentence she flagged is gone or rewritten

5 · Sign

release

written sign-off from Noble and, where required, guardian

Readings

·Simanis & Hart, BoP Protocol 2.0
·Selected media case studies, Latimer Institute
·UN CRC Article 12 (the right to be heard)

Cases

·Boyan Slat · The Ocean Cleanup
·Malala Yousafzai · Malala Fund
·Mikaila Ulmer · Me & the Bees Lemonade

AI Guides Practiced

·Q · storyteller
·Mira · systems
·Research · precedents

Virtual Field Trip

Kasungu, Malawi → TEDGlobal Arusha

Kamkwamba's route from village to global stage, without the extractive parts.

Live Debate

“Should adult mentors ever be co-founders of a Noble's venture, or only stewards?”

Measurable Pillars (must be true before Week 04)

Zero adjectives of pity in the final draft.
One signed release on file before publication.
The Noble's name appears before any adult's name in every reference.
You keep no copyright the Noble does not also hold.

Guest

Editor or producer who has covered a Noble at scale

Shipped Artifact

A 400-word signed-off profile, published to the Hidden Nobles library with the Noble as first byline.

Success Signal

The Noble sends the piece to her own family before you send it anywhere else.

WEEK 04

Local Materials, Local Hands, Local Methods

Core Question

“Why does the village workbench keep out-inventing the accelerator?”

One Job This Week

Interview one young inventor in her own workspace and publish nothing without her edits.

Learning Objective

Study children who built with what was already in the room — and the adults who stayed out of the way.

Deeper Aim

Build the muscle of apprenticeship in reverse. The Noble is the teacher; the visiting expert is the student. Learn to listen at that angle without patronizing.

Frameworks Introduced

Apprenticeship in Reverse

The Noble is the teacher. The visiting adult is the student, and behaves accordingly.

Local Everything

Local problem, local material, local hand, local method — in that order.

Weekly Rhythm

Live seminar

90 min

Bruce on getting out of the way — design as removal, not addition.

Noble guest hour

60 min

A mentor who has stewarded a Noble for five years or more.

Office hours

60 min

Interview technique rehearsal with a founding mentor playing the Noble.

Readings

90 min

Bunker Roy on Barefoot College; Escobar on Pluriverse; Turere family transcripts.

AI reflection

60 min

Mira maps the ecosystem around the Noble you chose. You add what's missing.

Build time

120–180 min

The interview itself, transcribed, edited, returned.

Five Feynman Passes

each pass ends in a real artifact

1 · Ask permission

request

written consent from Noble and guardian, in her language

2 · Sit still

observe

45 minutes in her workspace with no question asked

3 · Ask

interview

60 minutes, questions open, silences kept

4 · Return

raw transcript and rough edit sent to her within 72 hours

5 · Publish

release

final piece with her line-edits, credited to her first

Readings

·Barefoot College, Bunker Roy talks
·Escobar, Designs for the Pluriverse (excerpt)
·Turere family interviews (Kenya)

Cases

·Richard Turere · Lion Lights (Kenya)
·Sam Kodo · Infinity Loop robots (Togo)
·Deepika Kurup · solar water purification (US)

AI Guides Practiced

·Mira · systems
·Q · storyteller
·Research · precedents

Virtual Field Trip

Kitengela, Kenya

Richard Turere's homestead — where the Lion Lights still guard the herd.

Live Debate

“When does 'mentorship' become a soft form of colonization?”

Measurable Pillars (must be true before Week 05)

Interview conducted in the Noble's own workspace, not yours.
The Noble reviews the transcript before any edit is published.
Every direct quote is verified against audio.
Adult mentor and outlet are named after the Noble, never before.

Guest

A mentor who has stewarded a Noble's project for five years or more

Shipped Artifact

One long-form interview, in the Noble's language of comfort, with audio archive and signed release.

Success Signal

The Noble asks when you're coming back. You go.

WEEK 05

Global Nobles

Core Question

“What does the world learn when it stops treating child inventors as regional curiosities?”

One Job This Week

Assemble a dossier of eight Nobles across at least five countries and three sectors.

Learning Objective

Profile Nobles across Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, India, Pakistan, Brazil, the US, and beyond.

Deeper Aim

Trace the pattern. A Noble in Lagos, a Noble in Lima, a Noble in Lahore, a Noble in Louisiana — the geographies differ, the posture is identical. Name the posture.

Frameworks Introduced

The Global Pattern

Same posture, different geography. Name the posture, then the place.

Reverse Innovation

The edge invents first. The center adopts second, if it is paying attention.

Weekly Rhythm

Live seminar

90 min

Sandhi and Jon walk a comparative reading of eight Nobles across four continents.

Noble guest hour

60 min

A mid-career Noble — ten years past her first invention — on what carried through.

Office hours

60 min

Research Guide-assisted dossier review with a founding mentor.

Readings

90 min

Govindarajan & Trimble, plus recent global science-fair winner reporting.

AI reflection

60 min

Research Guide surfaces three Nobles you have never heard of. You verify one.

Build time

120–180 min

Compile, cross-check, publish the dossier to the cohort library.

Five Feynman Passes

each pass ends in a real artifact

1 · Cast wide

list

30 candidate Nobles across at least eight countries

2 · Verify

confirm

each entry sourced to at least two independent references

3 · Cluster

group

Nobles clustered by sector (climate, water, health, learning, care)

4 · Contrast

compare

one paragraph on what a Lagos Noble teaches a Lima Noble

5 · Publish

release

eight-Noble dossier submitted to the Hidden Nobles library

Readings

·Govindarajan & Trimble, Reverse Innovation
·Recent reporting on youth science fair winners globally
·Selected Nobles dossier

Cases

·Jack Andraka · pancreatic cancer test (US)
·Boyan Slat · The Ocean Cleanup (Netherlands)
·Emma Yang · Timeless app for Alzheimer's (US)
·Iqbal Masih · child labor abolition (Pakistan)

AI Guides Practiced

·Research · precedents
·Signal · daily feed
·Impact · 3Ps

Virtual Field Trip

Lagos · Lima · Lahore · Louisiana

Four Nobles in four cities in one week, virtually walked with local guides.

Live Debate

“Is 'edge innovation' a useful lens for child inventors, or does it flatten cultural difference?”

Measurable Pillars (must be true before Week 06)

Eight Nobles minimum, at least five countries and three sectors.
Every entry sourced twice, at least one source in the Noble's own language.
One pattern named across the whole dossier and defended in writing.
Every Noble in the dossier is invited to view her own page.

Guest

A Noble in mid-career, ten years after their first invention

Shipped Artifact

The Eight-Noble Dossier — comparative, sourced, and returned to each Noble for review.

Success Signal

The pattern you named is one the mentors had not written down yet.

WEEK 06

AI as a Companion, Not a Replacement

Core Question

“How should AI serve a young inventor without doing her thinking for her?”

One Job This Week

Design and ship an AI Guide system prompt for one specific young Noble in your dossier.

Learning Objective

Design an AI companion for a young Noble that raises her ceiling without lowering her voice.

Deeper Aim

The risk of AI for young inventors is not that it fails them but that it flatters them. Design tools that push back, that ask better questions, and that keep the child at the wheel.

Frameworks Introduced

Raise the Ceiling, Keep the Voice

The Guide's job is to push back and ask better questions — never to flatter or finish her sentences.

Child at the Wheel

Every design decision protects the Noble's authorship. If it doesn't, cut it.

Weekly Rhythm

Live seminar

90 min

Jon and a guest AI-safety practitioner on child-safe, non-flattering AI design.

Noble guest hour

60 min

A builder shipping AI tools for low-bandwidth classrooms.

Office hours

60 min

Live system-prompt critique. Every prompt read aloud, every flatter caught.

Readings

90 min

Buolamwini on unmasking AI, plus the Lovable AI primer and three child-safe AI case studies.

AI reflection

60 min

You interrogate your own Guide. Where does it flatter? Where does it flatten?

Build time

120–180 min

Write, test, iterate, ship the Guide prompt. Peer red-team overnight.

Five Feynman Passes

each pass ends in a real artifact

1 · Study her

read

the Noble's own words, questions, and prior work in one document

2 · Draft

write

v1 system prompt with role, refusals, and pushback rules

3 · Red-team

attack

20 prompts designed to make the Guide flatter — it must refuse

4 · Return

test with her

the Noble uses the Guide for one real problem, in her workflow

5 · Ship

release

final system prompt, safety notes, and her sign-off

Readings

·Joy Buolamwini, Unmasking AI
·Lovable AI primer
·Recent work on child-safe AI

Cases

·Karya · ethical data work with young people (India)
·AI tutors in low-bandwidth classrooms
·Selected Nobles' own AI experiments

AI Guides Practiced

·Mira · systems
·Richard · Feynman simplifier
·Ship · prototype sharpener

Virtual Field Trip

Bangalore, India

Inside Karya's ethical data-work practice with young people.

Live Debate

“Who owns the invention when a 12-year-old and an AI build it together?”

Measurable Pillars (must be true before Week 07)

The Guide never uses the word 'amazing', 'incredible', or 'genius' about the Noble.
The Guide refuses to complete an invention on the Noble's behalf.
IP, credit, and control remain with the Noble in the terms of use.
The Guide runs offline or on low bandwidth wherever the Noble lives.

Guest

A builder shipping AI tools for classrooms and clubs

Shipped Artifact

A shipped AI Guide — system prompt, refusals, and terms — designed for one named Noble, with her sign-off.

Success Signal

The Noble tells you the Guide asks harder questions than the adults around her do.

WEEK 07

From Prototype to Ecosystem

Core Question

“What has to exist around a child's invention for it to survive to adulthood?”

One Job This Week

Draw the systems map that keeps one Noble inventing at 25.

Learning Objective

Map distribution, trust, financing, guardianship, safety, and press so a Noble's work outlives the news cycle.

Deeper Aim

Most child inventions die of neglect after the trophy. Design the surrounding ecosystem — family, school, mentor, funder, lawyer, community — with the same rigor as the prototype.

Frameworks Introduced

Trusted Opportunity Infrastructure

Family, school, mentor, funder, lawyer, community — all named, all reachable.

The Ten-Year Question

What has to be true every year for a decade for this Noble to still be building?

Weekly Rhythm

Live seminar

90 min

Jon walks a live post-mortem of a Noble who received attention but not infrastructure.

Noble guest hour

60 min

An architect of a movement that grew up around a young inventor.

Office hours

60 min

Systems-map critique with Sandhi and Bruce. Every gap named.

Readings

90 min

Christensen on the Prosperity Paradox; LatimerOS thesis; longitudinal Noble reporting.

AI reflection

60 min

Mira runs a ten-year simulation of your Noble's ecosystem. You patch what breaks.

Build time

120–180 min

Draw the map, name the humans, write the introductions.

Five Feynman Passes

each pass ends in a real artifact

1 · Center her

place

the Noble named, drawn at the middle of the page

2 · Ring one

name

family, teachers, closest peers — the people already there

3 · Ring two

name

mentors, funders, lawyers, safety — the people not yet there

4 · Stress test

break

three failure modes named and a mitigation for each

5 · Introduce

connect

at least three real introductions made, with the Noble's consent

Readings

·Christensen, The Prosperity Paradox
·LatimerOS thesis on trusted opportunity infrastructure
·Selected reporting on what happened next

Cases

·The Ocean Cleanup, ten years on
·Malala Fund
·William Kamkwamba's continued work

AI Guides Practiced

·Mira · systems
·Venture · first-dollar coach
·Meridian · study planner

Virtual Field Trip

The Ocean Cleanup HQ, Rotterdam

Ten years on — the ecosystem Boyan Slat built around a teenage idea.

Live Debate

“Whose job is it to make sure a Noble is still inventing at 25 — the parents, the schools, the state, or the movement?”

Measurable Pillars (must be true before Week 08)

Every human on the map is named — no institutions without a person.
At least three of the ring-two humans have been contacted in writing this week.
A written safeguarding plan sits alongside the map.
The Noble herself has approved every name on her map.

Guest

Architect of a movement that grew up around a young inventor

Shipped Artifact

A one-page systems map + a three-introduction ledger + a written safeguarding plan.

Success Signal

Two of your three introductions turn into a second conversation without you in the room.

WEEK 08

Ship Something

Core Question

“Can you explain your project clearly enough that a smart 12-year-old, or the Noble herself, understands it?”

One Job This Week

Ship one artifact that measurably raises the profile, safety, or resources of a specific Noble — and have her sign the release.

Learning Objective

Ship a real amplification: a profile, a platform, a mentorship, a fund, a product, a policy brief.

Deeper Aim

Compress eight weeks of seeing, listening, and building into one shipped artifact that measurably raises the profile, safety, or resources of a specific young inventor or class of young inventors.

Frameworks Introduced

Amplification, not Appropriation

The Noble gains reach, credit, control, and upside. You gain the discipline of standing back.

The Feynman Test

If a smart 12-year-old — ideally the Noble herself — can't retell your project in a minute, you have not finished.

Weekly Rhythm

Live seminar

90 min

Final synthesis with all three founding mentors on the panel.

Noble guest hour

60 min

The Noble your capstone concerns, in conversation with your cohort.

Office hours

90 min

Line-by-line capstone review with your assigned mentor pair.

Readings

60 min

Feynman lectures (selected); prior-cohort capstone rubrics; Noble sign-off letters.

AI reflection

60 min

Richard runs your project through the Feynman Test. Rewrite until you pass.

Build time

180–240 min

Ship the artifact. Present it live to the review panel.

Five Feynman Passes

each pass ends in a real artifact

1 · Thesis

state

one sentence: the Noble, the change, the measure

2 · Artifact

build

the shipped thing — profile, platform, fund, product, or policy brief

3 · Impact model

measure

who benefits, by how much, by when, and how you'll know

4 · Feynman explanation

teach

seven-minute story a 12-year-old can retell in one

5 · Release

sign

written sign-off from every Noble involved before you present

Readings

·Feynman, selected lectures
·Latimer capstone rubric
·Sign-off letters from prior Nobles

Cases

·Prior cohort projects (live gallery)

AI Guides Practiced

·Richard · Feynman simplifier
·Q · storyteller
·Ship · prototype sharpener
·Impact · 3Ps

Virtual Field Trip

The Hidden Nobles Library

Your capstone joins the permanent gallery — visible, credited, and searchable forever.

Live Debate

“What is the difference between amplification and appropriation, and which side of the line does your project stand on?”

Measurable Pillars (must be true before Week graduation)

The artifact is real, live, and reachable at a URL before the panel opens.
Impact is measurable: one metric, one baseline, one target, one review date.
Every Noble named in the capstone has signed a release, unedited by you.
You can explain the entire project in one Feynman pass without adjectives.

Guest

Review panel: a Noble, a mentor, a founder, and a journalist

Shipped Artifact

The Hidden Nobles Capstone — thesis, artifact, impact model, seven-minute Feynman story, signed releases.

Success Signal

A Noble in your capstone tells you it is the first time an adult built something with her, not about her.

Graduation

You leave with a signed capstone, a permanent library entry, and a Noble who trusts you.

Every graduate ships a real artifact — a profile, a platform, a mentorship, a fund, a product, or a policy brief — that measurably raises the profile, safety, or resources of a specific young inventor. Reviewed live by a Noble, a mentor, a founder, and a journalist. Signed by every Noble involved. Archived in the Hidden Nobles library forever.