🌄 New Horizons (#5)

Where to even begin?! College is crazy.

This past month, from my final days at home to my first week at Yale, has been incredible.

Living in a new and urban location, on my own, has been a huge shift. But I haven’t really had time to stop and think about it; I’m being pulled in so many directions, both academically and socially. It turns out, college is about a lot more than classes (although mine begin today).

This year, Yale started a mandatory orientation program. I was on the 4-day overnight hike. But at the last minute, my group was swapped with the Navy ROTC freshman. So I ended up going on their (very strenuous) trip in the Catskills instead! It was amazing. And very smelly.

I’ve decided to settle on Computer Science and Linguistics as a tentative major. It spans the areas of CS and Data Science while providing a strong background in natural language processing, one of the areas of artificial intelligence that I’m extremely fascinated by. But that could change - everything from Cognitive Science to Global Affairs seems super interesting. I’m finally realizing the point of a ‘liberal arts education’; exploration.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when arriving on campus. Could my experience match the idealized version of college I’d conjured in my mind?

So far, it has surpassed it. I’ve met some amazing people and had conversations on topics from religion and altruism to global tech policy and nuclear power. Plus, the food is good (which is all that really matters).

I’m excited for what my first semester holds…

🚀 Updates

Friday, the generative conversational educational search engine, is nearing launch! It enables people to interact with all the knowledge on the internet as they would with a real person.
I’ve finished recording the material for my upcoming FreeCodeCamp course, which will focus on an area I believe is critical for developers. I just need to find time to edit it.
Last month I mentioned that I was invited (along with two of my best friends) to speak on the first episode of the new FAU High School “Once an Owl, Always an Owl” podcast. This has been released and can now be found on Spotify.

💭 Thoughts

(3 things I've been thinking about this month)

AI Ethics and Westworld: the Contrast between Artificial and Authentic Life: Through HBO's Westworld, I discuss my thoughts on several topics within AI ethics including consciousness, moral status, free will, cloning, sex robots, and if any of it matters.
Who Should Be Responsible for Accidents by Driverless Cars: While autonomous vehicles could lead to safer roads, I discuss what may happen when things go wrong.
The Centralization of Decentralization – Why Blockchain Isn’t Being Used To Eliminate Platforms: I discuss why Web3 has given rise to new dominant, centralized platforms.

👍 Recs

(2 articles, 2 novels, 2 videos, 2 tv/movies)

🗞 The 100 best inventions of 2021
🗞 A ‘Cash Cow’ is on the agenda - a new business model to replace subscriptions
📗 “How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question” by Michael Schur
📘 “The Shadow of the Gods” by John Gwynne
📺 Facebook's Collapse & The Metaverse Crusade
📺 Stroads are Ugly, Expensive, and Dangerous (and they're everywhere)
🎬 “House of the Dragon” by Ryan Condal & George R.R. Martin
🎬 “Arrival” by Denis Villeneuve

Thanks for reading :)

Feel free to share this newsletter with your friends, or subscribe!