My Story
I grew up in the quiet, suburban town of Brooklin, ON.
I grew up in the quiet, suburban town of Brooklin, ON. I was entertained by the usual kid activities—baseball, video games, friends, etc.—but it was always my curiosity that could never be satisfied. Fortunately, I was among the first generation of kids who grew up with the ability to ask Google anything my parents couldn’t answer. So, I got into a perpetual habit of wondering, asking questions, and searching for answers.
As I learned more from my schooling and random curiosities, I began to find connections everywhere. For instance, I was (and still am) amazed to learn that everything in the physical world is composed of atoms, in combinations of just over 100 elements. And that the splitting apart of certain atoms, at my Dad’s work at a nearby Nuclear plant, made the same power that turns on the lights and computers in my house.
Throughout high school I fell in love with the maths and sciences. I soon came to believe these were the best tools humanity had to understand the the world around us. I chose to pursue engineering for its integration of these fields with design and creation. After two years of general subject matter in the Engineering Science program, I decided to specialize in robotics for its synthesis of many different fields, including AI. I see a future marked by the widespread use of engineered, intelligent systems. As I look to the future, I hope to march straight to the frontier.
All in all, what I plan to do with my life stems from my very conception of what life is. Of course, there are many definitions, and everyone has their own view. There is the biologist’s that it consists in organisms made of dividing cells. There is the everyday definition of life as the condition of existence, as you might sigh and utter after a difficult day: “well, that’s life”. There is its characterization as the opposite of death and destruction, as in the word “lively”. And there is the thing one intuitively feels that they possess, often referred to by the phrase “my life”.
I see these all as mere perspectives, points of view, or ways of looking at the same one thing—the thing we all have in common, that is, life. And considered in this way, biology, psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, and so much more, are seen to simply study aspects of this one life. So in my eyes, the design of intelligent systems, with robotics or AI, is not about economy, or glamour, or financial gain, but about the proliferation and flourishing of life. And as our machines become increasingly life-like, their sources of inspiration approach the very source of life—with neural networks, walking robots, and logic devices all prime examples. But where is this all going, and for what end do I ultimately aspire? The destination is nothing but the very source, and the end is just the beginning.