Hobbies

This page is the less academic side of the site. A lot of these interests overlap with how I think about research anyway: attention, aesthetics, curiosity, patience, and the pleasure of slowly getting better at something difficult.

Travel

Travel is one of the main ways I reset perspective. Conferences, trains, museums, mountains, different cuisines, and unfamiliar routines all seem to force a more attentive mode of living than ordinary weeks do. I especially like travel that combines a strong sense of place and culture with room to walk, think, and observe.

The ‘nature’ versus ‘nurture’ dichotomy also rears its head into travel, with nurture playing the role of human cultural experiences or urban travelling. I think the world is a beautiful place with a lot to offer - I have been both awed by breathtaking mountain views, and deeply immersed in the intricacies of local cultures - so I refuse to be categorized in this manner.

Some of the awesome places I have been to:

• Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Antwerp, Belgium
• Athens, Greece
• Barcelona, Spain
• Basel, Switzerland
• Berlin, Germany
• Bratislava, Slovakia
• Bridgetown, Barbados
• Budapest, Hungary
• Cape Town, South Africa
• Chania, Greece
• Edinburgh, UK
• Firenze, Italy
• Giza, Egypt
• Istanbul, Türkiye
• Köln, Germany
• Krakow, Poland
• London, UK
• Luxor, Egypt
• Madrid, Spain
• Milano, Italy
• Munich, Germany
• Napoli, Italy
• New York City, USA
• Oslo, Norway
• Paris, France
• Prague, Czechia
• Roma, Italy
• Sevilla, Spain
• Stockholm, Sweden
• Toronto, Canada
• Tulum, Mexico
• Venizia, Italy
• Wien, Austria

More about these places in blog posts to come.

Photography

Photography makes me look harder at things I would otherwise pass by too quickly. I am especially drawn to light, texture, architecture, landscapes, and the accidental geometry of everyday scenes. A good photograph feels like a small act of attention.

I am just an amateur iPhone photographer at this point in time, but one day I will own my very own high-end camera. Still, in this day and age you can do decently well with the iPhone camera. Here is a miniature gallery of some of my favourite shots:

A view of Festung Hohensalzburg.

An eye towards the Shard in London.

The calming waters below Mt. Vesuvio in Napoli.

Schloss Neuschwanstein near Füssen.

The elegant papal council seats of the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venizia.

A view through a tree of Firenze.

A view of Kufstein through the archer slits of Festung Kufstein.

Another view of Kufstein over the icy steps up the Festung Kufstein.

The gorgeous mountain scenery of Seefeld at water level.

The beautiful mountain valley near Mutterberg in Tyrol, Austria.

A mesmerizing sunset in Waterloo, Canada.

Books

I like books that reward rereading: philosophy, literary fiction, history of ideas, and science books that are actually written well. I am less interested in consuming a high volume of books than in finding the ones that permanently sharpen how I think, although one usually goes through many books to find such gems. Reading also teaches you patience and the ability to carefully analyze ideas through rereading, skills that I think are waning these days and which everyone should develop.

I would also characterize myself as a slow but deep thinker, meaning that I really need to take my time absorbing and critically appraising ideas before they materialize in my mind. Only after I know the idea inside and out can I begin to understand its implications. Reading lets me do this, and that is why I love reading so much.

Some of my favourite books:

• 1984, George Orwell
• Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein’s Outrageous Legacy, Kip S. Thorne
• Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
• Gödel’s Proof, Ernest Nagel
• Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction, Michael J. Loux
• The Brothers Karamzov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography
• The Computer and the Brain, John von Neumann
• The Gulag Archipelago, Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn
• The Odyssey, Homer
• The Order of Time, Carlo Rovelli
• The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin
• The Physics of Star Trek, Lawrence M. Krauss
• The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins
• Theory and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science, Peter Godfrey-Smith
• Time and Chance, David Z. Albert
• What is Life?, Erwin Schrödinger

Movies

Film scratches a different itch than books. I tend to enjoy movies with a strong atmosphere, visual patience, clear stylistic point of view, or strong character development rather than a purely plot-driven spectacle. That is not to say that a good plot wont rope me in though. Let it be known that I am also a sucker for science fiction, even if it normally would not be the best of movies.

With the rise of streaming services, less people are attending screenings in cinemas worldwide, which is a real shame because the cinema is the optimal way to experience any movie. Deluxe surround sound systems, large high-resolution screens, and perfect geometry await those who venture to the cinema; films shot for IMAX screens are particularly recommended. Beyond these (obvious) benefits, there is just something so magical to me about heading to the cinema, grabbing an oversized bag of popcorn and soda, and finding a cozy place to view the spectacle.

Here are some movie lists I compiled on the app Letterboxd (which I highly recommend getting):

• Science Fiction Classics
• Right in the Feels

Opera

Opera is one of those art forms that feels slightly absurd until it suddenly feels indispensable. The plots may not be overly complex but the emotional force delivered by the actors through their singing and the beautiful classical music that accompanies it is second to none.

It is really a shame that opera audiences have been declining over the years, but many opera companies have been trying their best to attract new, young faces to their productions. This comes in the form of (typically) heavy discounts for under 35’s, so I encourage all people - but in particular young people - to experience the beauty of opera!

Some of my favourite operas:

• Carmen, Bizet
• Die Zauberflöte, Mozart
• Don Giovanni, Mozart
• La Traviata, Verdi
• Le Nozze di Figaro, Mozart
• Madama Butterfly, Puccini
• Tosca, Puccini
• Turandot, Puccini

Art

Museums and galleries are among my favourite places to wander. Whether it be contemporary art or medieval art, everything has something unique to say which will captivate you if you let it. I love all art, but I find myself enjoying modern impressionist and expressionist paintings along with renaissance masters such as Caravaggio and Michelangelo. I also love the absurdity and lack of spatial perspective of medieval art. Contemporary art can be hit or miss for me and part of its beauty is my lack of expectation for what I will see, but when I see a piece I really like, it will hold my attention for longer than the visit.

Some of my favourite painters:

• Michelangelo Buonarroti
• Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
• Marc Chagall
• Salvador Dali
• Albrecht Dürer
• Paul Gauguin
• Wassily Kandinsky
• Gustav Klimt
• Oskar Kokoschka
• Edouard Manet
• Henri Matisse
• Claude Monet
• Edvard Munch
• Pablo Picasso
• Egon Schiele
• Doménikos Theotokópoulos (El Greco)
• Vincent van Gogh
• Rembrandt van Rijn
• Tiziano Vecellio
• Johannes Vermeer
• Leonardo da Vinci

Some of my favourite galleries:

• Albertina, Wien
• Alte Pinakothek, Munich
• Collezione Peggy Guggenheim, Venezia
• Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze, Firenze
• Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
• Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden
• Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich
• Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Wien
• Leopold Museum, Wien
• Musei Vaticana, Vatican City
• Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid
• Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid
• Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo
• Palazzo Pitti, Firenze
• Picasso Museum Barcelona, Barcelona
• Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
• Schloss Belvedere, Wien
• Tate Modern, London
• The National Gallery, London
• Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum, Madrid
• Uffizi Galleries, Firenze
• Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Painting & Sketching

I absolutely love artistic expression, especially in the form of painting, so one day I thought: “let’s see what I can create.” That amounted to mostly abstract painting since mastering painting requires immense dedication and a specific mode of expression that I simply cannot produce at this moment in time. However, I find bringing abstract figures to life very amusing and an excellent way to unwind. I have so far produced two works:

What does the ghost say to the sunflower?

The mountainous teacup.

with many more on the way. One aspect of abstract painting that I find fascinating is how boldly it reflects the progress of human evolution. Modern humans started painting images of their direct perception without much regard for realism, then during the renaissance they refined their techniques to accurately portray the natural world. Then came new forms of expression which depicted nature and the human condition in a way that only vaguely resembles our perceptions, ultimately leading to the current state of painting: images almost complete divorced from reality. It is still an open issue when (if such a question actually makes sense to ask) exactly human consciousness and higher level reasoning came into the fore, but this transition is surely captured in our ability to imagine forms which could only have come from minds that have transcended natural evolution.

Writing

Writing matters to me both as expression and as a tool for thought. A lot of the time I only know what I think once I have tried to put it into sentences that can survive being read the next day.

I am currently trying to coerce myself into writing short stories, so hopefully this will pan out to be a great creative outlet for me, in addition to the blog I have just started. Stay tuned for some light (hopefully coherent) reading.