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Endeavor

Failure is always an option (albeit sometimes just the once; I haven't tried skydiving yet). These are the areas in which I choose to spend my failures in the hopes of improving my hand, failing less frequently, and maybe accomplishing something. They bring a larger universe closer to me and fuel my sense of awe.

I'm a tremendously fortunate individual, to be born when and where I was, to have available to me the tools and information I do, and even to have a knack for technology (an inherently intellectual pursuit) to offset the constraints of living with a rare disease which inhibits physical pursuits.

I hope the manner in which I spend this good fortune is judged worthy. It is better, I suppose, to be engaged full time in altruism and philanthropy; I have plans in that direction given a willing future, and salve my interim conscience with charitable giving and community oblations.

Science Physics: Student*

The greatest temporal legacy I could hope to leave would be adding a rung to the ladder of collective human intelligence regarding the nature of the universe. I decided in 2009 that I should probably finally really understand physics, instead of just have an armchair background in it from science fiction and popular culture. I started how I start with software, breaking things down into their smallest quanitifiable elements and building the complexity from there. Only, physics resists quantification at miniscule scales, and efforts to resolve wave/particle duality gave me some pretty big ideas that have driven the rest of my discovery and education, and which continue to enmesh favorably even with recent releases in the field.

This means I probably don't know enough, and lack the framework and math to properly test and filter my concepts; fortunately I'm sufficiently self aware to recognize that fact. I'm still using those ideas as the basis of my further exploration because they give me a project context and a reference point, some of the critical motivations for maintaining autodidactic focus, and by coupling the study with well defined curricula I can avoid gaps and accidental selection. If my ideas are (improbably) correct, hurray, I've added something to the world! More likely, properly understanding their flaws and shortcomings will prove to be an interesting education, and in all cases I come out the other side better comprehending the universe...


Neuropsych: Amateur*

Neuropsychology is the marriage of neuroscience (the matter, configuration, and biology of the brain) with psychology (the behavior expressed thereby), in much the same way that astrophysics is a combination of astronomy and physics. It reinvigorates the idea that the brain and its behaviors can be known from its structure and biomechanical origins (given enough detail), and uses both sides of physical and behavioral analysis to work toward the middle in getting to the bottom of consciousness, identity, and our relationships to each other and the world. Cracking the nut...

Technology Software: Expert*

Been at it 31 years and counting, following a path of progressive capability and responsibility from button-pushing individual contribution to executive strategy and oversight. Visit the software section for the personal story, and see my resume for professional history and credentials. More...


VR: Student*

The Rift has finally made it possible to do meaningful VR R&D at a consumer level. I picked up a DK2 in July of 2014 and am working through some projects to see where I want to take it, and how deep the rabbit hole goes. Red pill...


Futurism: Amateur*

The future as I see it (at least, for the next few generations) is not going to be gleaming cities, dystopian ruins, or follow an A.I. singularity. We are a complex, dynamic species, and will come up with complex, dynamic problems, solutions, strategies, and toys. Extrapolation between the possible and the probable must focus on more than turning up the volume in one or two areas, or on gluing together existing concepts. Here's my take...

Art Sculpture: Amateur*

I think in (at least) three dimensions when I make sense of information systems related to software development, and though I'd never really done anything with sculpture (in three dimensions) I always knew I could do it. Finally my wife called my bluff and outfitted me with the materials, I added some of my own tools and away I went...


Music: Amateur*

Music was my soothing companion, my release, escape, and consolation during the years when my condition (then undiagnose) took from me my physical pursuits. Since coming to peace with that state of being it's less cathartic, but still equally beautiful to me. I play a smattering of instruments passibly and some of them decently, but none of them seriously (in any sense of the word). Tooting my horn...


Writing: Amateur*

Language is an artistic tool like any other, and the works wrought therefrom are some of the most powerful and enduring conceived by man (despite the fact it's also used for poop jokes). I've written a great many things over the years, but usually in the course (and support) of other endeavors. In that time I've amassed a collection of notebooks, prompts, snippets, and outlines which I'd love to turn into novels, poems, collections, and the like. I have much to hone in the craft (and still suffer from World Builder's disease), but like to think I could get there someday...

Bucket

This one is based on an entirely different scale, simply regarding how many items on the bucket list have been checked off, with no preference given for relative significance thereof. Emptying the bucket...



*Scale: the rating scale used to determine total progress in a field is divided into (not entirely arbitrary) stages of proficiency as compared broadly to other adherants and/or career maturity levels. This is under strong application of analysis to eliminate potential illusory superiority biases attendant to the Dunning–Kruger effect due to any unfamiliarity, making these requirements more stringent overall.