Hi there, I am Lochie and this is my first personal website.

Historically I have not been much of a publisher, I tend to keep things to myself. However, I have realised that it is more fun to share!

I am not a great writer, so I hope that having a public space to write will improve this skill. Below I will highlight some of my favourite things to talk/think about and what I hope to do in the near future. This site will cover many areas (detailed below) and I will endeavour to regularly post articles, podcasts and videos.

Things I want to share

  • Research
  • Random thoughts about science
  • Teaching and tutoring details
  • Personal and professional information

Things I am interested in

Brain

I think the human brain is fascinating. I have attempted an honours thesis at the University of Sydney which was focusing on analysing fMRI data. I ended up discontinuing the program in the end (specific research was dull and I really didn’t like living in Sydney) but my interest in the brain has grown further since then.

My focus in this area at the moment is creating a map of mathematical logic from mathematics/physics to neuroscience. This way I will be able to understand which tools I can rely on when investigating the brain. The map will roughly follow this structure.

  • Each node in map will be an scientific inference
  • Each edge in map will be an assumption
  • I would like to critically discuss the assumptions with like-minded individuals
  • Clicking on the node will reveal more information about what it is and also its connections
Getting away from screens

It is inevitable that I will be looking at a screen for at least 8 hours per day. It seems that most of Australia experiences the same reality. The science behind the psychological impacts of this is virtually non-existent, but personally, it doesn’t feel very good to spend this much time looking at a device. I would like to offer an alternative to the current working environment. There are a few different avenues that can be taken, like AR glasses, more efficient software/hardware, portable devices, etc.

My focus will be creating a new device that feels like a real paper book that you can write in, but the contents can be uploaded to the cloud. Furthermore, you can upload your own text into the book and read it just like a normal paperback book. For example, if you have a scientific paper to read, you can upload it into your paperback and read and annotate it just like you had printed it out. Then once you are done you can send it back to the cloud for processing.

How is this different from products like reMarkable? It is real paper, it doesn’t feel or look like a digital device. It presents as a book. Building audio integration into paperback is a future development, but I also see it differing from reMarkable by being able to turn any text into an audiobook.

Generating ideas more efficiently

A common thing that you may hear when discussing business ideas is “ideas are cheap, execution is everything”. While I may agree with this sentiment, without a great idea I find it really difficult to imagine what I may be executing. Furthermore, an idea is predicated on an understanding of a problem. If you dont have enough information about your problem then your idea will be suboptimal.

I am developing the software platform called thinktank which will suggest new nodes in your mind map of a problem. This way you will no longer get stuck whilst brainstorming. The platform will track your progress in developing an understanding of a problem, connect missing links and provide a reason why, generate new topics to consider and much more.