Hello friends and family,

I have exciting news to share: I've decided to return to Northeastern to complete a masters in computer science. With financial support from Congress, I'll be working at the timely intersection of cybersecurity and AI, which I've found increasingly scary. This will be a great lever to do something about it. Given that, I stopped working at MAIA in late July, rounding out just about a year of work. It was hectic at times, but I learned quite a lot that I will carry forward.

I spent my first day off reading in the arboretum for five hours, which was beautiful this time of year. Since, I've spent a lot of time rounding out my philosophy research notes and drawing in my backyard.

Since school starts in September, August will be dedicated to more of that, hanging out with friends, and Finn too :)

I've also planned a roadtrip to the smokey mountains with Ian and Tabby and a flight to the Iowa state fair with Lucas, Duncan, and Cassidy. It's the largest state fair in the country, famous for its life-sized butter cow sculpture. I'll be on an exclusive diet of the only vegan things in town: deep-fried oreos.

I've also started an unemployment to-do list, which includes learning to juggle (done), walking to Walden, making hundreds of slightly different cookies to find The Best Cookie, running fun lil community events around Stony Brook, trying a bunch of new recipes, and getting to the bottom of color theory.

What I've been listening to:

• Headhunters by Herbie Hancock

• Ten Easy Hot Dogs by Mac Demarco

• Quite a lot of silence as I started working and commuting with just earplugs

What I've been reading (a lot of philosophy):

• The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff (which I reviewed quite critically)

• A New Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere and Deliberative Politics by Habermas

• Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy by Bernard Williams

Longshot asks:

• Im going to Converge's hardcore festival on December 13, folks are welcome to join me :)

Unemployably yours,
Ryan Baylon
ryanbaylon.neocities.org
ryanbaylon.substack.com
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