For as long as I can remember I’ve been obsessively searching for the best ways to improve myself and the world. I deeply believe all sentient beings deserve to flourish. Naturally this has led me to lead an unorthodox life.

I have a polymathic spirit and believe “work is much more fun than fun” (Noel Coward). I started my first microbusiness at six and have been working relentlessly ever since. All in, I have experience in 20+ fields. But for the sake of simplicity, you can say I’ve primarily focused on (1) behavior change and (2) social change.

Life highlights:

• Co-founded 27 organizations (59% still operating for 200+ cumulative years earning millions in revenue)
• Learned from 23 jobs and internships in startup, corporate, and academic environments
• Graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with 3 majors, 4 minors, and 2 programs
• Experienced 4,040 “life firsts” in a 26 year-long experiential learning experiment

Most interesting work:

• Developed a protocol for helping people optimize their lives as quickly and cost-effectively as theoretically possible
• Co-founded Effective Altruism Global, the international conference series for effective altruists (the largest in the world highlighting AI safety at the time)
• Founded Self Spark, the global lifehacking event series
• Co-founded Polymath Project, a nearly launched physical university for thousands of young Leonardo da Vincis
• Helped Stanford ChangeLabs pioneer a framework for social change called “system acupuncture”
• Helped RoadStoryUSA develop a ventured-backed museum/theme park edutainment center
• Helped OnHand Agrarian invent a new type of high-density, sustainable fish farming

Research areas:

• Strategic life optimization
• Behavioral shoves (complement to nudges)
• Systemic / systematic behavior change
• Systemic / systematic social change

Some chronological history:

• Started my first microbusiness at age 6
• Used to play Civilization for up to 18 hours/day
• Started first proto-existential risk organization at age 15 when I realized humanity needed to be interstellar to ensure our survival from nuclear weapons and AI
• Was the most prolific competitor in the world for a NASA-backed international space settlement design competition
• Committed 90%+ of my post-financial security assets to doing the greatest amount of good possible around age 15; see pledge I designed around this
• Responded to 40+ emergency situations as a civilian over 20+ years (excluding my brief time as a professional medic)
• Coined 110+ protologisms and protologistic phrases over 20+ years
• Designed the plausibly most effective format in the world for maximizing productivity in a single day
• Was likely effective altruism’s first major whistleblower
• Foresaw the rise of an SBF fiasco in effective altruism and spent tens of thousands of hours trying to prevent it 

Some media:

I don’t personally consider media a “highlight”, but I understand others do. See here. Also see some of my talks.