February 2025 Monthly Digest
Eye See You (Seattle, USA — February, 2024). Notice these are always from last year's matching month? I now understand why people with "real cameras" take forever to send you photos.
Hi all,
It’s me, Max — AI researcher, indie game dev, sharing my essays & photos. Happy Valentine’s Day, if that’s your kind of thing.
Late digest this month.
I published two new posts in January. Finally, first couple entries of The PhD Metagame are out! I found both very interesting to work through. Your Paper Is an Ad looks at the different functions a research paper has in terms of its mechanics in academia, which I think can be unified in the lens of an advertisement. Don’t Try to Reform Science describes the differences between what I call “Science 1” (pure science) and “Science 2” (how we practice it). Animated illustrations included. I hope you’ll take a peek.
Posts
The PhD Metagame
Your Paper Is an Ad
Insiders to our social practice of science understand that a research paper serves several purposes. In increasing impor...
The PhD Metagame
Don't Try to Reform Science
Don't try to reform science. Not yet. Not in your PhD. In grad school, you'll start complaining about the publishing sys...
News
This year I’m trying out writing in the morning and aiming to publish a blog post every week. I’ve already fallen off once (I blame a severe then lingering cold! But the fault is my own), but am back on now.
I discovered a couple tech blogs recently I’ve been thinking about. One is Steph Ango’s and the other is Phil Eaton’s. In particular, Steph Ango mentions they explicitly attempt to write short (< 500 word) essays. What a liberating concept! I could use a dose of brevity.
That’s all for now!
Max
