The speaker is a theorist who works across multiple areas of physics, theoretical neuroscience, and computer science. They value the elegance and aesthetics of questions, and strive to solve problems where they can make progress. They believe that the foundations of physics, the nature of information, and the nature of complexity are key areas of interest. They have a background in the fundamental laws of nature, the nature of space and time, gravity, black holes, and the early universe. They are also interested in questions related to black holes and information, and how neural systems process information. They have written a series of papers on how physical dynamics produce complex states of matter. They believe in the interdisciplinary nature of their work, but acknowledge the challenges of navigating multiple fields. They draw from a variety of tools and fields in their work, including theoretical physics, mathematics, and computer science. They have a habit of putting together pieces that others haven't, and enjoy assembling these into a coherent narrative. They believe in the importance of literature and the liberal arts, and in the dangers of becoming disconnected from our cultures and history. They also believe in the importance of a healthy society to support science.
1. The speaker appreciates complex and deep questions.
2. The speaker finds the aesthetic sense of a question important.
3. The speaker aims to work on problems where they can make progress.
4. The speaker is a theorist working in multiple areas of physics, theoretical neuroscience, and computer science.
5. The speaker's Ph.D. and training focused on the fundamental laws of nature, including the nature of space and time, gravity, black holes, and the early universe.
6. The speaker is interested in the foundations of physics and the fundamentals of space and time.
7. The speaker has been interested in the nature of information and how it appears and is processed by systems in the natural world.
8. The speaker has been interested in questions like black holes and information destruction, and how neural systems process and transmit information to the central brain.
9. The speaker has written a series of papers about how some physical dynamics produce complex states of matter and others don't.
10. The speaker is interested in the laws and principles that govern the organization of systems in nature, whether they be living or non-living, and works across a range of scales.
11. The speaker believes that interdisciplinarity in academia is somewhat more rigid in practice, requiring expertise in separate disciplines.
12. The speaker was inspired to become a physicist at a young age, but found a connection between physics and computer science during high school.
13. The speaker used the freedom of the Harvard Society Fellows to learn neuroscience, and by the time they started their graduate studies, they had a strong background in theoretical physics, math, and computer science.
14. The speaker's first paper as a graduate student was about the mathematics of differential geometry and curved spaces, and they also thought about Occam's Razor.
15. The speaker enjoys putting together pieces that people haven't put together before and assembling them into a story.
16. The speaker has been deploying their toolkit with their students and post-docs.
17. The speaker realizes that the self-organizing dynamics of the neural circuit in the brain is an analogy of classic self-organizing problems in condensed matter physics.
18. The speaker believes that literature matters a great deal and that the liberal arts are essential to understand how to live.
19. The speaker believes that science and technology do not teach us how to live, but the liberal arts do.
20. The speaker believes that there needs to be a healthy society to support science, as it will die without one.
21. The speaker uses literary examples and analogies in their teaching, including from the first chapter of Swann's Way, the first book of the Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust.