Anson asked me this question, and I’ve been stumped for 4 weeks. This page will always be a work in progress, and I am happy to feedback at any time.
My current thesis in life is to spark a feeling of awe and wonder in people, and enjoy their reaction for myself. I’ve come to this thesis after a long journey of dipping my toes in a plethora of domains.
Things I’ve done
In the past I’ve invented technology to fight cardiac disease and enable dementia patients, winning awards nationally for them (CWSF). I developed education curriculum for my province, setting up the infrastructure to allow youth to propose and pass educational legislation along the way. I also enjoyed helping rebuild a school in the Dominican. Right out of high school, I built a startup that used AI to generate videos from blog posts—now this idea is in the spotlight and being researched by many. Somewhere along the line I also planted a ton of trees in response to the largest wildfire in Canadian history.
Although it’s not what I strive for, I’ve been honoured to receive awards that recognize the work that I’ve done in the past. Most notably, I received the Governor General Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers (the most prestigious volunteering award in Canada). I was also given a full ride scholarship to go to university.
Nowadays I spend most of my time researching and building in the education, neurotechnology, and artificial intelligence fields. I also work on a non-profit that is leveraging the power of the internet to aid in humanitarian crises. A side quest of mine is to form “The Avengers”: a small group of friends that are tackling the world’s most pressing problems together.
Who I am
This is a hard question (see who are you). Aside from qualities such as curiosity and enthusiasm, I believe there are a couple of specific traits that make me exceptional:
- My relationship with time
- From a young age, I’ve had a very deep understanding of what time really meant for me. A lot of my life is structured in a way to maximize my utilization of time. I believe that I’ve become quite an efficient person because of this—I hate wasting time. My main measurement of time is based on the amount of memories I create in a given timeframe.
- Seeking of truth
- I work tirelessly to reach the truth. In times when I believe I already found it, I stay open minded to rewrite the truth. In the long run, this means that I will not be susceptible to falling into bottomless ideological pits. Slightly related to this is the fact that I don’t have strong opinions about most things, as I am still in search for the truth there.
- I have (luckily) surpassed some of the main bottlenecks in life at an early age. Working hard since then has compounded very heavily for me compared to others.
- Childlike wonder
- I am never afraid of seeming childish. I will ask questions, investigate impractical ideas, and always smile while doing it. There are some drawbacks to this, such as my poor sympathy skills, however I believe this makes for a much more exciting optimistic life. This will also lead to more unique/impactful ideas down the line.
- Resourcefulness/tenacity (stubbornness)
- This is one I wouldn’t have written down if it wasn’t for people telling me such. Apparently, I am stubborn in achieving my goal, and that makes me tenacious. Idk.