Ultimately, my schedule is starting to constrain me to mostly technical coursework, and I’ve resisted less and less as time goes on. But I still find ways to integrate the humanities into my daily life. Oh, and ChatGPT put generative artificial intelligence on the map this autumn.
Students I saw on campus were washed up at the shore and stressed and hurting. When you’re in a state like that, the set of solutions to a differential equation suddenly isn’t that important anymore. So as the days went on, I sought to further a sense of purpose and community in my life and work.
Upon a journey to understand quantum hardware, algorithms, and theory among other subjects, the men and women behind what I study came into clearer view. Then, I thought, perhaps it is possible to be shielded from a storm by building a shelter with the very material that afflicts you.
In only a few months of on-campus life, I have met several new people, familiar faces, siblings of familiar faces, and colleagues from Zoom University. I’ve visited the Cantor Arts Center and attended football games. Perhaps college is a big all-you-can-eat buffet, with analogous agony and ecstasy.