My name is Alex Smith. acroyear2.org is my personal website; it’s named after a great song by Autechre.
I’m a recovering logician. In school at Carnegie Mellon I studied both mathematical and philosophical logic, somehow earning two degrees in the process. My master’s thesis, called Kernel, Cumulative, and Safe Contractions, was on the logical properties of certain ways of changing your beliefs. I also participated in a research group, trying to teach an AI set theory and teach some undergrads basic symbolic logic. I use the skills and knowledge I got there to do content strategy for HUGE, a digital agency specializing in large-scale, user-focused, sustainable websites.
One of my biggest interests is music. While in school, I spent a lot of time with WRCT, Carnegie Mellon’s radio station. I was somehow in charge of it all as General Manager from May 2006 to May 2008. I DJed a show Tuesday nights called Quantized Energy from January 2005 to May 2009. I started out playing IDM, then I played experimental, avant-garde, drone, and noise music, and finally I added math rock, reggae, and some jazz too. Now I’ve started to listen to a lot of hip hop, and there are still parts of me that won’t ever stop liking electronic music from the 90s.
Tasting delicious things (and thinking about how to taste more of them) occupies a lot of my time. I’m a fan of every cuisine that I’ve been able to try; I particularly like German, “New American”, French, and Japanese. While I was growing up, I started a coffee addiction very early, which I have now cut back on since I have to make time for drinking as well. I had a couple-year-long thing for beer, but over the last year or two I developed a serious cocktail habit and have been trying to amass a home bar (I keep drinking it all away). I’ve started making some homemade infusions, liqueurs, and syrups in support of these cocktail experiments. I have a special place in my heart for espresso, cappuccinos, IPAs, pilsners, porters, dry stouts, neat whiskey, and Manhattans.
Other hobbies include go, chess, and reading. I have an unnatural fascination with cities and subways, so in September 2009 I moved to Brooklyn after finishing my graduate studies; I live in Park Slope and work in DUMBO.
I have a blog, but I don’t update it enough. Drop me an email, if you like.