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Since finishing grad school, I have been diving from physics into coding. It turns out that it probably is all the same thing at the end of the day! I came across a paper that discovered an exact mapping between the renormalization group, a central concept in modern physics, and deep learning, the latest and greatest machine learning algorithm. It’s crazy but makes sense. Both the physics idea and deep learning rely on looking at a system on a succession of different levels. This high level view of a system helps you to see the big picture. That is useful for self-driving cars and for finding phase transitions in condensed matter systems.

I am excited about the potential of machine learning and AI. It’s cool to think that my various seemingly different interests, could turn out to overlap in productive ways.

What if there are other hidden connections between totally different fields?

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I’ve been reading Turn the Ship Around! by L. David Marquet about his experience leading by giving up control and encouraging leadership throughout the organization. He experimented with this leader-leader model while commanding a US nuclear submarine, the USS Sunfish. The results were dramatic; the Sunfish went from the worst performing submarine to the highest performing boat in the Navy. His story inspires me.

I love this idea that each member of the organization has some control over how things get done. In my experience, that is when I have fun and get excited about my work.

It reminds me of a time in high school gym class playing ultimate frisbee. I was on a team with a mix of skill levels, with many new to frisbee. Somehow we all got excited about the game and managed to do really well against teams with more athletic players. The key was that we all handled the frisbee as we passed it back and forth. Each pass was a decision made, an act of leadership. I remember the joy of flowing down the field with my teammates, seeing them out of their comfort-zone but excited and enjoying themselves as they attempted to make passes and out-wit our opponents.

The opposite is soul sucking. Who enjoys getting micro-managed? Being told what to do, how to do it, and when it has to be done? And yet this is accepted. Companies try to control their employees through layers of management, procedures, and policies.

Maybe it is because the leader-leader model is hard to pull off when you don’t know what you are doing. David Marquet describes an initial failure with this approach where he didn’t support giving up control with the necessary tests for competence and the necessary organizational clarity. The result was chaotic.

I can’t wait to try some of the methods that David Marquet describes from his time on the USS Sunfish. At my work, and in my life, the challenges are too complex for a leader or a management team to solve alone. It is way too much work to try to keep everyone in line when they need to be told what to do. No, the challenge of the leader-leader model is worth it. Plus it seems like way more fun!

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I am generalizing the scope of this blog from science and tech to things that I am interested in. I plan on tagging posts so that it will be reasonably easy to filter for what you are interested in. 

Today’s post is the start of a series on questions. Questions are powerful. I have been feeling dulled by my reflex to look up things on Google immediately on thinking up a question. I get quick answers, but fail really learn. I hope that by taking the time to write out the questions that I will learn and perhaps you will find it interesting too.

Q: What are the most common causes of death of 1 year olds?

As a parent of a 1 year old, I’m interested in learning both what makes my son healthy and what risks to avoid. The risks are especially hard, because something can be scary but very unlikely. So what are the top 10 causes of death for 1 year olds in the US?

I have some follow-up questions as well: What is the rate of deaths per year per capita? How likely is a child in this cohort of children to die from each of these causes? How has this child mortality changed over time?

Just trying to avoid survivorship bias.

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I’ve greatly benefited from people who have generously shared ideas by writing blogs. It is staggering how much knowledge is out there. I want to do my part to contribute. I aim to write up when I learn how to use a technology or learn something interesting.

Writing is a great way to develop ideas. So I’m sure that it will be useful to me too!

Coming soon!