Jackson Wagner

I'm an aerospace engineer and software programmer at Xona Space Systems, working to create a next-gen GPS system that can continue delivering the huge positive externalities that come from increasingly accurate positioning & timing. Earlier, I studied attitude determination & control systems at Colorado University Boulder, after which I spent three years at SpaceQuest designing, programming, testing, and finally operating the cubesats Brio and Thea.

I also have a keen interest in effective altruism, rationalism, and forecasting. I've led winning teams in IARPA forecasting Tournaments as part of Phillip Tetlock's Good Judgement 2.0 Project, an exciting experience which I hope to write about here soon. Financially, I follow the example of the Giving What We Can pledge, devoting 10% of my income to the most effective ways of improving the long-term future. Hopefully, the ideas and projects that I plan to host on this blog (inspired by a wide pantheon of great rationalist bloggers including Gwern, Paul Christiano, and Alexey Guzey) will be another way that I can contribute to the mission of effective altruism.

When it's time to kick back and enjoy life, I enjoy hiking and going on road trips, although since I don't have much unique to say about them, they won't have a large presence on the blog. My experience of life has been improved by the insights of mindfulness meditation -- I'd recommend the Waking Up App as a very well-made, comprehensive, and accessible introduction to the subject. I've also produced a number of writings and videos analyzing some of my favorite videogames, including the works of Jonathan Blow, TheChineseRoom, and Mobius Digital -- deep and beautiful artworks that aren't widely understood due to their uniqueness.

This website was designed by my wife, Tandena, using Hugo and Netlify. Besides knowing markdown and html and the like, she's also an ecologist working on bringing the effective-altruist mindset of cause prioritization and long-term thinking to the world of environmental conservation. You can read more about this project at her similar site, Ecology Interventions.