Even at their young age, the fellows selected have already been "challenging the authority of the present and the familiar," says James O'Neill, the head, who hopes the program "will help young people everywhere realize that you don't need credentials to launch a company that disrupts the status quo."

There were more than 400 applications, from two dozen countries and 200 high schools and colleges, for the 20 slots.

"Tomorrow will not take care of itself," adds Peter Thiel, who 13 years ago co-founded PayPal, which later was sold to eBay. "In order to solve vexing problems and increase the quality of life for people everywhere, the world's economy needs continuous scientific and technical innovation from outstanding creative minds."

One selectee in the finance and economics area is Jeffrey Lim, who seeks to help protect wealth from the harmful effects of inflation, and will be leaving MIT to do that. Please hurry up, Jeffrey. (Actually, it might take a while; part of his approach involves revamping core economic and social institutions, to increase the amount of voluntary exchange and cooperation in the world.)

Another, Faheem Zaman, wants to revolutionize mobile financial services, seeing this as a step toward improving life in poor countries. A step in that direction he envisions: decentralizing banking in the developing world. A student from New York's prestigious Stuyvesant High School, he seemed headed for Harvard until the Thiel Foundation opportunity knocked.