About

Experience

Why CS?

I originally chose to study computer science for pragmatic reasons (I was good at math, I liked scripting/automating, I was autodidactically obsessed with opsec and privacy throughout my childhood.) Once I actually entered the culture surrounding the field, my relationship with it became more complex. I see computation as the most powerful lever humans have ever built, one uniquely powerful because it's so abstracted from the physical world.

I love working with it but don't deny the controversial impact it's had; it's able to cause harm because of its immense speed, reach, ability to connect domains, and personalizability. I think the best version of optimizing our world involves people like me using computation to its amazing potential yet against its own worst tendencies, while communities outside the field contribute in ways that don't depend on it at all. Security appeals to me because the systems are so contrived that they're tenuous by nature, and defending them from an increasingly powerful adversary buys breathing room for bigger problems. And I've found this act of defense to be incredibly rewarding for both finding a sense of purpose and working with something on an engagingly low level.