Adder Oaks

Here is my resume.

In my best estimation, AI is likely to drastically change the world in the near future. With this in mind, I would like to spend the next several years doing one of the following:

  • working on AI alignment
  • working on a cause that will help many people in the very near term
  • working in an area that I find to be particularly intellectually invigorating
  • living out my days in an idyllic rural commune

Since 2010 I have lived at Twin Oaks Community, an income-sharing egalitarian community in rural Virginia. I have shared about my experience in the Atlas Obscura Podcast, Refamulating, and Communities Magazine.

The US waiting list for kidneys is over 90,000 people long, and every kidney donated has a very high chance of adding many years of life to its recipient. In June 2024 I became a non-directed donor: the stranger who received my kidney was pulled from the waitlist and immediately regained his health after the operation. I met my recipient later that year. I advocate for structural changes that have the potential to eliminate the kidney shortage.

I have a passion for mathematics and teach online to K-12 students via Outschool.com. I offer classes both through my personal teacher account and Twin Oaks Learning Collective.

Through Sirimangalo International, I teach Vipassana meditation based on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness taught by the Buddha, following the tradition of Mahasi Sayadaw. I have practiced under the guidance of Ven. Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu.

Pai Sho is the once-fictional board game featured in Avatar: the Last Airbender, developed into a series of deep strategy games by a kind and dedicated fan community. I am the designer of the variant Fire Pai Sho. I won the 2023 Omashu Ginseng Gathering and the 2024 Heat of Passion Fire Tournament.

This site was a Saturday afternoon project. The code was written by Gemini 2.5 with troubleshooting assistance from Claude 3.7 Sonnet. Graphics were generated with Ideogram.

Feel free to email me! adder@adderoaks.com