20230831
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Since I wrote an update in the Yanai Newsletter, I want to make a post on Facebook while I’m at it.
- Maybe I should also translate it into English and post it on LinkedIn.
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Done writing.
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I didn’t try to make it a perfect piece of writing, so I just wrote it like a collection of tweets.
- Well, I think this is good enough.
Tomorrow, I will finally become a sophomore in college, even though I’m half a year behind my Japanese classmates. When I first came to the US, I was mentally unstable, filled with worries, anxieties, and regrets. But I managed to survive my freshman year while facing uncertainty, and gradually I began to understand how to enjoy this world. I will write an update on Facebook after a long time. I’ve listed various things I want to talk about, and I would be happy if you could read them if you’re interested.
I am studying Computer Science and Philosophy as a minor at Columbia University in New York. Since last semester, I have been working on research under Professor Feiner. I am creating a VR interface to remotely control robots in factories. I aim to develop an intuitive system that allows the operator to forget the presence of the robot. I have long been interested in the concept of “virtual time.” I think it would be interesting to implement a different concept of time than the “Western modern, mechanical, objective time” and it would be even better if it could be useful to people. I am implementing various toys related to such experiences (see images) and studying phenomenology and the view of “reality” in Buddhism. I am also conducting research on non-linear time axis in online meetings and hope to summarize it as a paper next year. I believe that this theme has been consistent in my research on the class distribution software developed in the “Mito” project during high school and the research on the robot control interface mentioned earlier. I have been thinking about whether I want to create a product that can become a business or if I want to do research, but I think I am more inclined towards the latter, so I will focus my resources in that direction. I want to find people to work with and think about ways to raise funds. I also enjoy backpacking, and on my way back to Japan, I visited Boston, DC, Los Angeles, Seoul, Delhi, and Da Nang, using the cheapest connecting flights. During spring break, I traveled by night bus from London to the Czech Republic. I met friends who were in the local area, became friends with a mysterious restaurant owner in Turkey who showed me around the city, and stayed with a graduate student in Prague through Couchsurfing. When I enthusiastically interacted with people who approached me in India, I fell for light scams about four times. When I returned to Japan, I met many friends, seniors, researchers, and creators I wanted to meet. I feel that compared to myself one or two years ago, I have become better at enjoying and being moved by spending time with others.
This semester, I want to travel to various universities and cities in the United States to meet people. In October, I will attend the CSCW conference (Minneapolis) and the UIST conference (San Francisco) as a student volunteer. I also want to actively visit neighboring universities on the East Coast. I would be happy to talk to people who have similar thoughts or contexts in their research and meet unexpected people. At the same time, I want to explore more of what I can do in New York. Every time I talk to someone who came to NY from Japan, I realize that there is a world in this city that I didn’t know about, and I feel that I know nothing about New York.
Recently, I have come to think that life is enjoyable, even with both happy and melancholic moments. I want to express my gratitude to those who have supported me and spent time with me, and I want to move forward in the direction I want to go. I frequently post about my daily life on Twitter, so please take a look if you feel like it. https://twitter.com/blu3mo> I mostly write my thoughts on Scrapbox, so if you’re interested, please check it out here.