learn
graduated from the International Baccalaureate Program. memories revise and fade over time, but still it was nuts: ~125 started, ~100 made it to the end after 4 years, only ~75 passed. so did I.
attended college at Lehigh University, studied under some great minds. left early, mostly because, of all the things I had learned thus far, moderation and balance were not among them.
my dad wrote me a letter shortly before he died. his last words have become an inspirational standard for who I want to be in life.
grow
into philosophy, music, math, geekery, martial arts and literature. books are rad – leave behind the jungle outside, turn towards the one within. taoism is the most likely box for my belief system, but I’ve always been an outside-the-box kind of guy.
tend greatly towards rational analysis and introspection, intimidating some people, inspiring and motivating others. empathy is an undervalued trait in leaders, underestimation the most common mistake made in any battle. these days they don’t see me coming. even when they do.
happiest when deconstructing the world around me.
believe the entire universe is one incomprehensibly complex, self-replicating pattern machine: atoms, molecules, chemistry, physics, biology, evolution, behaviour, consciousness, psychology, sociology, politics, economics – patterns built upon patterns of patterns, borne from patterns, giving rise to patterns. every concept in the universe has finite, game theoretical constraints that define its parameters for existence, temporal state and directional transition. understanding these constraints makes it possible to change the game. note however that our continued failure to fully comprehend them shouldn’t necessarily imply simple governance by magical superbeings.
apply
worked as everything from a construction worker to a teacher at Harvard to a software company executive, with many interesting jobs in between. haven’t been around as long as some folks, but man I’ve sure seen a lot.
written a lot of software, talks, papers, and started several cool companies. the entrepreneur in me is difficult to restrain, so I enjoy taking advisory roles and lending my own knowledge and experiences.
explore
yearn to backpack, travel, and experience new things. exposure encourages positive progression, self-reliance necessitates strength and courage. failure can often be as valuable as success. but success is funner..
of course the difficulty with knowledge is that knowing something makes you susceptible to its influence. but the world in general could benefit greatly from an improved propogation of better information. though it might eventually kill us all.
miss riding my motorcycle. it’s a real shame WA doesn’t allow lane-splitting..
age
been hit and run over twice, been torn down and built back up many times. I’ve lived my life like I’m invincible, and lucky for me that’s been true. but only for a time I guess; getting older now and things don’t suffer damage as well or heal as fast. ahh well, it’s been a hell of a life so far.