Hi there! My name's Ian! I'm a lifelong learner interested in entrepreneurship, engineering, philosophy, education, and self development.
I'm currently working as a Software Engineer at Hello Alfred. Previously Growth at Coefficient Labs and Computational Math at USC.
đđŒ find me at other places on the internet!đđŒ
What this website is for
Pretend for a second that youâre walking down the street and you see an alien. Odds are, you'd initially judge them from afar because of their four legs and leathery ear-flaps⊠yikes. After the initial discomfort wears off though, you might go up to them and try to see what they're doing in your neck of the woods.
This could be your chance to be like Tom Cruise or Will Smith you think to yourself. But to your horror, you find that they are already walking towards you. But not in the scary, clompy, War of the Worlds way. Instead theyâre awkwardly making their way over to you in a manner that can perhaps best be described as âfrolickingâ. And plus, the wobbling of their ear flaps puts you in a bit of a trance. It reminds you of those humans who install gages in their ears ten-times too large and decide they prefer the non-gage life without realizing that it wasnât exactly the most reversible decision ever.
"You've been selected for a special experiment!â the alien chirps, in perfect british-English no less. You resolve to not think about that part too hard. Most of your attention is wrapped up in trying to decide whether the alien is male or female. Maybe their species isnât sexually dimorphic? You shake your head internally as you realize that having the phrase âsexually dimorphicâ in your vocabulary most definitely explains like 70% of your unpopularity in high school.
The alien rouses you from your nostalgic musings with a piercing shriek. âSorry! Totally forgot about the disclaimer, um- wait a tick." It whips out a tablet-like device and bleeps and bloops around for a few seconds, looking up nervously to see if youâve lost interest. You havenât.
âLetâs see⊠-ah yes, there's no need to worry about this particular experiment!â the alien assures you, âthis is not the kind with anal probes.â Theyâve received complaints apparently.
âWeâve invented a form of time travel," they say, "and are about to rewind the clock of time here on Earth by about five human years. Everyoneâs memories will be erased. In fact, you will have no recollection of this conversation!"
Itâs all very confusing to you; the androgynous nature of their appearance, not so much the time-travel thing. Youâve read sci-fi, seen Men in Black, youâve heard it all before. For the sake of the thought experiment, you promptly sweep your impending dread and the irresolvable contradictions with General Relativity under the rug.
âBUT...â they pause, filling the airspace with an air of faux-suspense, the kind that gets people to start throwing food at street-performers. You decide to give the alien a free pass, partly because theyâre a hard-working alien scientist whoâs gotta have some fun in life, but mostly because youâve decided that they are most definitely, unequivocally, VERY HOT.
"To make it interesting,â they continue, âall of your memories will be erased, as I said previously. Except, the URL to one website.â
âDEAL!â you say. And not a moment too soon, the thought experiment was taxing your patience, sanity, and attention.
This is my attempt at creating the website I would send back in time to my younger self. Itâs an evolving compilation of the key perspectives, lessons, and favorite things Iâve picked up through 25 years of life.