Augustus' Interests

The field of AI is experiencing many rapid developments, increasing performance and architectural developments. But through all of it, models remain predominantly black boxes, where quantitative statements can be made about how they process input into outputs, with less certainty on the exact mechanisms that cause specific outputs to be produced. Interpretability and Alignment are two sub-fields of Machine learning that seek to increase our knowledge of the internal mechanism by which specific models achieve their results. 

I cant imagine a better way to spend time with friends than around some thematic decor telling a shared tale of dramatic proportions. Whether that be a night full of ghosts and horrors around increasingly dimmer candles as in 10 Candles, an old fashioned tale of high fantasy in Dungeons & Dragons, it is all bound to be an incredible experience.

I need no excuse to seek out an opportunity to learn something new, and topics of historical relevance always provide an opportunity to learn about many aspects of our world. Some topics are more relevant to our current world, such as the sanitary developments of Victorian times, or the cultural Shockwaves of the Opium Wars. Others are just interesting to read about, such as the internal politics of the Holy Roman Empire. Any topic in history, no matter how obscure I am always happy to discuss.

Adjacent to my love of TTRPGs, I always enjoy a good session of some board games. They are a wonderful way to connect with people over love of a shared theme, or appreciation of strategic choices, or the opportunity of actively exploring a cool world. There are so many board games out there is one for every occasion, and just as many ways to enjoy them. I like to categorize the board games in my repertoire based on what you can get out of them:

Netrunner is a very thematic card game about cyberpunk hacking and corporate espionage. Its mechanics are incredibly fluid and deep. But above all, Netrunner is one of the most welcoming gaming communities out there, where all are made to feel at home. It fosters a culture of fun over victory, where even at high stakes events, your opponents will eagerly redo sequences of actions if you missed an unusual effect on the other side of the board.

I love capturing snippets of current modern life through photography, I am quite the amateur at the art for now, but always seeking to expand my knowledge. My gaze when seeking out a scene for a photo focuses on the more mundane things in life, an apartment with interesting architecture, a small cozy shop, bridges large or small. Whenever I travel, I try to adquire as many photos of this nature as I can. My repository of images is currently unorganized, but sorting it and displaying it on this website is currently a work-in-progress project.