User:Fineline

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Steve at spiderhouse ballroom.jpg

I'm a theoretical physicist, data scientist, software developer, and musician living in San Francisco.

I have a PhD in theoretical physics from UT Austin, and a BS in physics from UC San Diego. My doctoral research dealt with building string theoretic models of QCD-like quantum field theories at strong coupling, via the AdS/CFT correspondence. You can read all about it here. More recently, I've jumped on the gravity <--> Navier-Stokes bandwagon.

Contact[edit]

email: fineline@gmail.com

Twitter

Facebook

LinkedIn

Github

Physics and machine learning blog

Projects[edit]

  • I'm mostly focused on topics in machine learning and deep learning these days. I'm particularly interested in using techniques from statistical mechanics and condensed matter physics (and maybe even quantum gravity) to increase our understanding of fundamental issues in deep learning.
  • vForms is a virtual environment for information organization for Windows 8 (sorry like 99.999% of the people reading this). C++ and DirectX.
    Update I'll be presenting an initial version at 5MoF on May 15th. I'm aiming to have it released by June 1st on the windows store.
  • I'd like to investigate the feasibility of using techniques similar to Loop and Blinn for a) rendering bezier splines, in particular digital ink strokes. b) making a fast, resolution independent pdf renderer. Both GLSL and HLSL versions. If this sounds interesting to any DirectX/OpenGL/CG hackers out there, it'd be great to see if we could release something substantial as open source.
    Update 5/6/2014: I found this, which should be good for study. Also this.

Interests[edit]

  • Machine learning and AI
  • Statistical mechanics
  • String theory and AdS/CFT
  • The holographic perspective on quantum entanglement entropy, and its implications for space/time emergence (ie the program spearheaded by Von Raamsdonk; EPR=ER)
  • Kundalini yoga
  • Rational (ie phenomenological) discussion of mysticism in general
  • High explosives
  • Saxophone
  • Cinder (creative coding library), and its application towards virtual workspace environment design on tablets and in augmented reality
  • Hiking and mountaineering
  • Cooking (mostly Chinese and Mexican)
  • Open access publishing
  • Co-operative living

Some Publications[edit]

Unsupervised Inflection Generation Using Neural Language Modeling

Holographic constraints on Bjorken hydrodynamics at finite coupling

The Stability of Non-Extremal Conifold Backgrounds with Sources

The Non-SUSY Baryonic Branch: Soft Supersymmetry Breaking of N=1 Gauge Theories

Plasticity and learning in a network of coupled phase oscillators

Multi-user communication using chaotic frequency modulation