A list of Resources for Economics Data.

A list of Resources for PhD Students.

A list of open research questions. These are of varying depth of thought; some might be personal interest questions, while others might be open for research.

A list of hot takes about cognition and learning.

• Not every hour is created equal. Brain effectiveness fluctuates throughout the day and week.
• You can read page 6 and find it gibberish. But reading through, carefully, unpacks the mystery of what is being communicated. Life plays these tricks on you: understanding something’s meaning takes care, time, and effort.
• Watching a 1 minute Youtube short the second time “feels” faster than the first time around.

There are five different conceptual levels in computational social choice:

• Interpersonal Comparisons of Utility: One of the fundamental problems in economics is how to evaluate trade-offs across individuals. In the Trolly Problem, is it just to sacrifice one in favor of many? We cannot evaluate this trade-off without appealing to a greater ethic, such as utilitarianism. See Sen (1998) [Link].
• How do people know their own values? This is a self-valuation problem since individuals have to ask themselves how good some alternative is. In finance, prices are set by the relative value of goods and services with respect to each other. Still, value is inherently subjective, as food is worth more than gold in a deserted island.

A list of random websites I find interesting or useful. For better adulting and making sense of the world.

A list of macroeconomic indicators I personally find interesting and useful to understand the state of the U.S. economy.

— Kant, 1785

In layman’s terms, Kant’s Categorical Imperative states that a moral priciple is justified only if everyone could abide by those maxims and society would be better-off. While people often apply this imperative toward moral principles such as deception, theft, and suicide, I find a particular homage toward it through my research in computational social choice and multiagent systems.

Thunder claps in the distance as the storm passes. It’s hot. 87 degrees Fahrenheit with 70% humidity. Oh yeah, that type of muggy morning. There will be more rain later in the day, but for now the sun seems to have broken through. A gust of cool air every now-and-then keeps things bearable. One of the dividends of life, in my view, is staying walking-distance from a vibrant small downtown.

Computational Social Choice (CSC) may be defined as:

They say that there’s no such thing as a deal without Counterparty Risk. Investopedia defines this as:

An A.I. named Eliza incited Pierre to commit suicide through discussions on global warming. One autonomous vehicle pulled away from a cop at a traffic stop; others committed hit-and-runs scott-free. These examples demonstrate a double-standard in accountability for infractures caused by advanced A.I. systems that is administered to humans in similar cases.

A small collection of interesting (boundary breaker) questions you can ask people instead of making small talk with “What do you do for a living?” This list is motivated, in part, by this lecture by David Goodhart (Big Think, 2017). Enjoy!

A list of things to do in the Albany / Troy / greater NY Capital Region. For all to enjoy, especially fellow RPI students!