zeno-cute-at-nextfest
I don’t remember the origins of my desire to become a college professor. Yet I know that the thought first crossed my mind when I was a sophomore in high school around the age of sixteen. I speculate now that there was a congruence of influences that resulted in a life vector oriented towards academia. I suppose these influences would include a deep respect for my teachers versed in the magical aspects of mathematics, a profound admiration for certain people in my life who had attained their graduate degrees and an exposure to and affinity for science fiction which often drove my dreams and inspired me toward science and technology. By that time I had gravitated towards computers. The Apple IIe was new in our school’s administration office and a family friend was teaching me RPG on an IBM running System/360. I was reading about Marvin Minsky, about Artificial Life and about using genetic algorithms to solve problems. I had experienced the proliferation of robots in the popular media and I was hooked. I knew that artificial intelligence and robotics were the two topics that I wanted to study. So, if my admiration and respect for those in academia can be called the strength of my vector at that point in my life, then AI/Robotics was certainly my orientation. Unfortunately, other life choices were made in my early adulthood and my studies in that area became more of a hobby than anything else.