Updates

My radio silence for the past month or so was due to the end-of-semester crunch time. But I’m safely on vacation now and hope to get back into the rhythm of regular blogging soon. A good starting point is probably some major status updates that have transpired in the last month:

• After becoming increasingly dissatisfied with my ability to get things out of Harvard, I decided that this past semester would be my last. I’ll still be graduating on schedule with the class of ‘15, thanks to advanced placement tests, but I get to spend the next year doing whatever I want instead of taking more bogus general education courses.

• Since I’m not at Harvard anymore, I’m also free to live wherever I want. For now that means Berkeley, CA, the Cambridge of the West. If you’re in the area, say hi!

• I loved my internship at GiveWell and got a lot out of it, but in the end I thought that it probably wasn’t my comparative advantage for doing good in the world. So I’m back to computer science, which I’m excited about for a number of reasons (about which more anon).

• My current foray back into the world of computer science starts in two weeks. I’ll be working at a very small startup (so small it doesn’t have a good name yet!) on using machine learning to revolutionize the stodgy industry of credit lending and securitization, or something like that. I’ll probably write about it here after I join (and after they leave stealth mode).

• To commemorate these various updates, and also my return to having time to write, I’ve updated the site design! Let me know if you have constructive criticism, or if you run into any bugs.