There are a lot of other things I’m interested in — some of which inform my professional interests — that I cut from the “About” page to make it shorter and more readable. Here you’ll find things I’m interested or have been interested. I’m usually involved with at least one of them at any given time.

Expect me to periodically re-organize the things here and add new things when I have time and energy. And before you ask — the cat isn’t mine. However, “bookstores that have cats randomly wandering around” are places I like to patronize.

Some personal interests

Nonfiction

Failure studies

As a part of a graduate course on computer architecture and information systems, I wrote a research paper about real-time operating systems that power cars and other vehicles. These systems have to meet “hard” standards of performance because of how little room there is for error. This inspired me to read a diverse literature on error, failure, safety, accidents, limited rationality, ignorance, and instability drawn from the sciences, humanities, and engineering practices. I am fascinated by failure — and in particular failure inherent in a system’s design — and how it can be practically managed.

Counterknowledge

The resurgence of “primitive” beliefs and superstitions in advanced technological environments made me curious about how and why they persisted in the modern world. I began reading about topics such as the history of demonology, the persecution of witchcraft, the psycho-cultural reasons behind human fear of monsters, and the anthropology of religious and shamanistic practices across the world today. I also revisited previous reading I had done into the sociology of conspiracy theories and occult belief systems.

Pathologies of rationality

I spent a good deal of time — maybe too much time — working on and studying interactive situations where participants could at least be presumed to be constrained optimizers. Reading Carlos CIpolla’s The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity and in particular Cipolla’s alternative spectrum of rationality (to put it charitably) fascinated me because how vividly he depicts the advantages of intelligence and reason being effectively neutralized. It also made me think of several types of recurring situations in which the absence of reason is in some way a source of power or a signifier of being powerful. I’d like to explore this more.

Fiction

Weird fiction

Analyzing issues in conflict and security eventually inspired a more generalized fascination with limitations on our ability to predict and control the world around us. I believe some of the best depictions of our inherent constraints and frailties can be found in literary “weird” fiction by authors such as Alfred Kubin, Giorgio de Maria, and Viktor Pelevin about how people cope with strange, surreal, and absurd situations. The enigmatic and disturbing novels these authors wrote eerily predicted the causes and consequences of current threats to social stability.

Fantasy/fantastical

I have a very different conception of fantasy than the general public, more in line with that of Tzetvan Todorov and others. Ironically, the book I love most doesn’t quite fit Todorov’s model. My favorite work of fantasy is George MacDonald’s Lilith: A Romance, one of the strangest and most beautiful trips to distant lands you’ll ever undertake. I can’t really do justice to it here and you should just go and read Jennifer Sattaur’s analysis of it instead.

Classical epics

I read The Epic of Gilgamesh, Beowulf, and a large portion of Romance of Three Kingdoms and Outlaws of the Marsh in middle school and high school. Like a lot of other people with similar interests I eventually made my way to Homer and Xenophon. I remain very interested in larger-than-life stories of heroes, quests, and conflicts. Although the context doesn’t necessarily have to be action/adventure — the sheer scale of Tale of Genji was what drew me in despite how slow and ponderous the narrative was.

Technology

Free and open source software

Researching and analyzing information technology inspired a personal drive to better understand their use. Self-directed activities such as assembling a mobile robot and trying to control it with the Robot Operating System (ROS) gave me a healthy respect for the daunting complexity of cutting-edge software and hardware systems. I make incremental progress towards a lifetime goal of learning about and using free and open source software and hardware by teaching myself the intricacies of GNU/Linux, its many frameworks and platforms, and the design principles behind them. I taught myself not just Linux but also related operating systems such Berkeley Standard Distribution descendants FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD in order to better understand tradeoffs and divergences in operating system design choices.

Software archaeology

I enjoy learning about the history, structure. and behavior of obsolete operating systems, platforms, and computer games through emulation, tinkering, and experimentation. I believe we have much to learn from the technological past. This involves not just reading about histories of past systems like the MIT Platform Studies project, but also actively trying to recreate the technical context of their usage. I try to work from primary sources, such as learning about assembly programming via vintage 1980s MS-DOS books in an emulated DOS environment. I also ponder lost alternative technological futures through projects such as installing and familiarizing myself with the Plan9 derivative 9Front while reading the technical research behind it. In the future, I would like learn about software reverse engineering methods to better understand the lost worlds of the digital past.

PC peripherals

Almost everything on this site was written/is being written on an vintage IBM Model M keyboard or a Unicomp New Model M. Once I discovered buckling spring keyboards I have never gone back. I would like to try out beamspring keyboards but they are rare, expensive, and likely require a good deal of modification to work practically. I’m similarly in love with Cougar 700m EVO mice. I’ve experimented with head-tracking hardware and software for gaming and simulation but haven’t quite found it entirely practical yet. I’ve similarly tried virtual reality/augmented reality tooling and haven’t quite been sold on it.

Media

”Background music”

In high school, I composed a new two-hour original film score for the Clint Eastwood movie Dirty Harry, revising the mood of the film with electronic synthesizers, distorted and manipulated recorded sounds, and John Cage-inspired piano music. I also wrote film scores for student films my friends made as well as a documentary produced by a relative. I no longer compose music, but I still collect and listen to experimental “tape music”/musique-concrète, contemporary classical music, original soundtrack scores from film, television, and computer games, dungeon synth, post-rock, ambient/slushwave/vaporwave/dreampunk, and similar genres. There is a totality to the way all of this music envelops you in soundscapes that I cannot get enough of.

Retrogaming

Admittedly “retrogaming” is a moving target. 10-15 years from now the games of the 2020s will be “retro.” But I fell in love with games I was too young to fplay — like Doom, most prominently — because of qualities that we increasingly have lost in modern AAA gaming. I wrote a post on Doom on a previous incarnation of this blog. It epitomizes so many things I value in general — customization, reuse value, and endless possibilities for creative self-expression. And you can play it with anyone on multiplayer, even if they have a potato PC.