Reflections on 2020: Year of the Alchemical Orca
To document events of the year and draw the rough outlines of its themes has come to be a powerful force of habit. But as I get older and accumulate […]
Author: majedsamad
Reflections on 2019: Year of the Pruning Sword
Due to travelling, I have not had the time to make this annual reflection before the close of the year. No matter. It remains fitting to take a few moments […]
Reflections on 2018: Year of the Blue Phoenix
This is the last day of the year 2018, a year of immense activity and numerous advancements in my life. I have chosen to label this as the year of […]
Reflections on 2017: Year of the Eclipsed Decade
It is now the 31st of December in the year 2017 and as tradition would have it, the time for reflection. This particular one bears a special significance as it […]
Musings on Middleness
We occupy a position that is necessarily in the middle of things. I have chosen to refer to this notion as the concept of middleness. It is a […]
Journal Entry from July 25 2017
I’m motivated to write again, but I seem to be stuck at the outset. It feels like I have much to express, but I can’t seem to get my thoughts […]
Reflections on 2016: Year of Sisyphean Bloom
The year of two thousand and sixteen will be remembered by many as a regrettable year of many tragedies and one of which they will have been collectively happy to […]
Brick Game
I have recently discovered the wonderful p5.js library and have been impressed at the ease and speed with which interactive applications can be created with it. After watching this video, […]
On the Musk-Bostrom Simulation Argument
Elon Musk has recently gotten a lot of press for reiterating the famous Simulation Argument, first espoused by Oxford’s Nick Bostrom, which loosely speaking states that we are almost certainly living in […]
Journal Entry from October 5 2016
My mind can’t help but crane as it gazes too broadly at the vastness of existence. It lets out a solemn sigh and recites the old adage that we live […]
Economics of Morality
What would an economic system designed with morality at its foundation look like? It would undoubtedly be starkly different from the capitalist bonanza we find ourselves mired in today. But […]
The Evolution of Perception
The following was a conversation between my friend and colleague Brian Odegaard and myself that was spurred by the recent interview of Don Hoffman, professor of cognitive science at University of […]
Musings on the Misuse of the Scientific Method
What follows is a slight reworking of a letter (or the modern electronic version of such) that I wrote to a friend who sought my advice on the standards by […]
Reflections on 2015: Year of Callousing Skin
I’m going to try and keep this short this year. I have always found great benefit in this habit of eight years now, and looking back on all the previous […]
The Social Fabric
With Bernie Sanders’ recent insurgent success on the presidential nomination campaign trail, preaching the Gospel of Bernie as TIME magazine’s Sam Frizell calls it, positioned as he is upon […]
JavaScript Demo
Just some JS code I threw up as I’m learning web-scripting!
Contemplate Well Thy Choice
I am heavily weighed upon by the pending ending of my time as a graduate student and the consequent need to formulate a long-term strategy for myself in the professional […]
The C Word
In academic circles, the word ‘consciousness’ used to be so frowned upon that professional researchers often didn’t even dare utter it, and would euphemise it instead calling it the ‘C-word’. […]
On the perils of communication
We are each an island unto ourselves. From across the farthest reaches of interpersonal space, we receive cryptic symbols inscribed upon a paper kept dry in a dirty bottle. Washing up […]
Starmap
We witness a few nebulae congeal in a rare moment of splendor while galavanting across galactic landscapes. Here’s a fragment recorded from this excursion: Dorrie Lipman on violin improv, and […]