My 3 passions.

About a month ago, I completed my last contract as R&D engineer working on Chinese language processing.

Since my undergraduate days, I have been longing for the freedom to pursue my creative visions and ideas and make them a reality. However, during that time I was trying to be hyper efficient, serving external goals (assignments, courses, graduation, making money)  so that I could one day afford the freedom to be more self-directed. Well, that day has come. At least temporarily.

Now, for half a year, I want to invest into things I am passionate about. My main interests are: 

• Humanities & Psychology
• Chinese (language, literature and philosophy)
• Computer Science / programming

In that order. 

Humanities & Psychology

The humanities, as I see them, offer an orientation for living, dealing with the question of what it means to be human. Whereas technology is usually concerned with the solution to specific problems. The former is value oriented, while the latter is often seen as a means to an end. During my own coming of age, I have gone through times of crisis, and reading and reflecting widely and deeply has helped me to gradually find my own answers or at least a more integrated way of looking at things.

Chinese (language, literature and philosophy)

I spend two years learning Chinese before I came to Taiwan to study computer science. Mostly self-study, including one semester at a university where I learned about history and classical Chinese (again, mostly from books and private study).

Ever since reading the 道德經 DaoDeJing / TaoTeKing, I was fascinated by the different basic assumptions and since then have had the greatest pleasure at expanding my knowledge and increasing familiarity.

Computer Science

I choose to study computer science, because I wanted to be able to work on my own projects. Throughout school I never struggled with grasping logical connections and I wanted to acquire the tools that would allow me to implement ideas and solutions. Even during my Chinese self-study, software and modern media have made the process so much more engaging.

Next time I will talk about some specific projects I am working on in these three areas. Stay tuned.