Wonder
blunder
salve
solve
I want to expand the reach of human knowledge and ability.
Right now, I’m trying to empower students. I lead the Early Product Development team at Khan Academy, where we’re trying to build solutions to distant open problems in education technology.
Previously, I helped make iOS at Apple with the UIKit team, made various open-source creative and engineering tools, prototyped creative tools at Panic, and studied computer science at Caltech.
My previous role at Khan Academy was co-directing a more research-oriented group with May-Li Khoe. For a taste of that work, see Numbers at Play (an interactive report on digital math manipulatives) or our research blog.
I write essays about thinking, learning, making, and more. A few:
Thinking
“Blinded by how,” a personal cautionary tale on the subtle but serious dangers of neglecting “why” for “how”.
Learning
“Exalting data, missing meaning,” on the tangled dance of expert insight and data in unsystematized fields.
Making
“Satisfaction and progress in open-ended work,” on finding steady ground in creative ambiguity.
More
“Musical tone and perceived disonnance,” on why we associate musical dissonance with tension.
Read on at Square Signals.
Feel free to get in touch.