Ariel Gil
AI Safety Researcher & Mechatronics Engineer
Technical Research Manager at Pivotal Research
Hiking & Travel
Iāve been doing more hiking in the past few years, and recently took a trip to Peru. It was my first non-western country, and was a great experience.
Phone / productivity experiments
I am always tinkering with my phone to use it less, or at least more proactively (like a tool, not a pacifier). One of the experiments was a eink phone (Bigme Hibreak Pro) - which was pretty successful, though I had to stop using it for a while waiting for a patch for a failed system update. At some point, I will publish my impressions and usage data, as well as other experiments Iāve done
Biking
I like mountain biking quite a bit, but also road biking - especially on 70s steel frame ā10-speedā bikes. I have a 1972 Czech bike that I bought used for cheap. These bikes donāt break, and they ride nicer than newer bikes despite lacking luxuries like quick shifters. For me, biking isnāt an adrenaline rush, but more of just a way to get into a flow state while doing physical activity in nature. Same goes for motorcycles - I donāt enjoy the adrenaline rush, but I like how it enables a new way to explore outdoors.
Typewriters
Other old things I got into are typewriters - especially the semi-electric ones that still have the ribbon pressing action, but are a bit faster to type on. Iāve written various notes during COVID that I never published, and hope to get back to using it once I am back from my travels/sabatical.
Motorcycles
Iāve had some on/off interest in motorcycles, and recently took a 4-day trip in the Peruvian Andes. A few years ago, I also borrowed a pretty interesting bike - the 1980s Honda CBR250RR, which can rev to 20k RPM.
Cars
Cars have been a big part of my childhood, and later also my engineering degree. I really like the 70s F1 history - where innovation was still wild and step-wise, rather than incremental. The Brabham āFan Carā is one example. I like the idea of āfinding a loophole/lucky breakā and exploiting it to win against the more rule-following competition. Cars were for me perhaps just a fun medium to play around with innovation, before moving on to other things.
Metal Working
I used to do quite a bit of metal working. I find it satisfying, and would like to get back to it - welding, machining, getting laser cut parts and putting them together. Metal working is harder than woodworking, but I think more satisfying.
