JavaScript Runs the World—Maybe Even Literally — WIRED
A defense of JavaScript — a silly-ass language that everyone loves to hate but more powerful (and egalitarian) than you think!
AI in Cinema & “Her” — The Verge
Sci-fi films are bad at depicting AI but Spike Jonze’s “Her” shows how it should be done.
What We Lost When Twitter Became X — The New Yorker
About my time at the bird app and what the future might hold.
How Manuel Blum—a Turing Award winner—became a legendary PhD advisor — MIT Technology Review
A profile of Turing Award-winning theoretical computer scientist Manuel Blum, who is also known as the greatest PhD advisor in the field. On what makes a great teacher who produces extraordinary scholars.
The Hypocrisy of Judging Those Who Become More Beautiful — WIRED
About lookism and the immorality of disparaging people who “artificially” enhance their beauty (e.g., leg-lengthening surgery or plastic surgery).
(For WIRED’s Next Normal series on how our “normal” ethical beliefs may change in the future.)
The Deep Link Equating Math Proofs and Computer Programs — Quanta Magazine
On the Curry-Howard correspondence, which shows an isomorphism between logical proofs and computer programs.
The Case for Selective Slackerism — The Atlantic
About what’s possibly my favorite Korean word and my perpetual state of being: 귀찮음 (gwichan).
How Google Docs Proved the Power of Less — WIRED
A piece of “software criticism” on Google Docs.
The Most Important Machine That Was Never Built — Quanta Magazine
On Turing machines, the nature of computation, Entscheidungsproblem, undedcidability and more.
The Researcher Who Would Teach Machines to Be Fair — Quanta Magazine
Q&A with Arvind Narayanan, a professor of computer science at Princeton, on privacy, AI ethics, doing interdisciplinary research and others.
The Case for Software Criticism — WIRED
Why isn’t there “software criticism” like there is film criticism or book criticism? Software may be the defining cultural artifact of our time. So why isn’t there a culture of critical analysis around it?
A Reading List on Why We Run — Longreads
An essay and commentaries on six pieces of writings on running.
The Hidden History of Screen Readers — The Verge
On blind programmers who have, for decades, created screen readers for the visually impaired community.
The Magic of Tiny-Home Videos — The New York Times Magazine
About my year of watching tiny-home videos on YouTube.
When You No Longer Recognize Your Home Country — The Atlantic
On migratory grief—the phenomenon of mourning one’s homeland when it undergoes such severe changes that it’s no longer recognizable.
The Reducetarian Movement — TIME
A primer on the idea of “reducetarianism” (related TED Talk).
How Do You Prove a Secret? — An Explainer on Zero-knowledge Proofs — Quanta Magazine
On zero-knowledge proofs: A counter-intuitive proof technique to prove the truthfulness of a mathematical statement without revealing any “knowledge” used in the process.
How to Write Software With Mathematical Perfection — Quanta Magazine
Q&A with the Turing Award winner Leslie Lamport on distributed systems (e.g., Paxos consensus protocol, Byzantine faults), computer science education, formal verification, and LaTeX.
Steven Yeun’s Perfect Accent in “Minari” — The New Yorker
On the film “Minari” and the experience of living as a non-native speaker in America.
How Our Circles of Friendship Churn and Evolve Over Time — The Atlantic
Why is friendship so mysterious? My interview with the Oxford psychologist Robin Dunbar.
Every Immigrant Is in a Long-Distance Relationship — Catapult
A personal essay about my long-distance relationship.
When Literature Meets Philosophy — An Ode to Philosophical Science Fiction — The New Republic
A review of Philosophy Through Science Fiction Stories in praise of philosophical science fiction.
The Humanities: The Next Frontier for Korea’s Chaebol — Korea Exposé
On Starfield Library in Seoul.
A Tale of Two Clubs — Nassau Weekly
On Princeton’s eating clubs: Ivy and Terrace.
Life as Art — Nassau Weekly
A profile of the philosopher Alexander Nehamas and his meaning of the “good life.”