near.blog

I do independent research, machine learning, investing, programming, and other creative work.

Most of my work revolves around AI, longevity, biology, VR, infosec, finance, music theory, UX, anime, meta-rationality, memetics, and epistemology.

It seems like the most impactful field right now is AI. Longevity, bioengineering, coordination mechanisms, and VR/AR are also really exciting this decade.

If you’re reading this, feel free to send me a message anywhere you see me! you can DM me on Twitter, email me at near at this domain, or submit anonymous feedback on this page. This page was last updated on Oct 27th 2024.

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Personal

I’m based in the US (most frequently San Francisco) and spend most of my time reading, learning, researching, building, and programming. I post about AI and other things I find interesting or funny on Twitter. if you want to get an idea for what I’m into intellectually, check out my large links post – it is almost guaranteed to contain something new you’ll love!

I love music and actively play piano after bouncing between many other instruments. Some of my favorite genres are artcore (examples: Xi, An), symphonic video game music (examples: FFXIV OST, Nier:Automata OST), progressive, instrumental, melodic, and djent metal (examples: Animals as Leaders, Uneven Structure, Undead Corporation, Arch Enemy), Jazz, and Japanese/Weeaboo (examples: Touhou remixes, anime OP/EDs, Made in Abyss OST). I have no relation to the character Near from Death note, I liked L more. The theme song on the bottom right of this page is featured in the OP from Serial Experiments Lain.

I grew up playing MMOs (e.g. OSRS, WoW, FFXIV, VRChat) and gradually realized that if I applied the level of effort I was putting into games into tech and real life instead, the rewards went up by over 100x. Now I have website!

My favorite thing about America is that it is by far the most antifragile country, and I feel lucky to have been born here

the most important things I’ve learned are:

  • the ability to learn skills and self-modify is far more general and far more powerful than almost anyone thinks
  • time spent doing nothing without electronics is valuable
  • the heuristic that you become the average of your five best friends is astonishingly powerful given its simplicity

Feel free to message me and say hi if you got this far – I rarely bite.