Nadia Asparouhova
How to do the jhanas
The jhanas are a series of eight (or nine) altered mental states, which progress from euphoria, to...
13th Jun 2024
The jhanas are a series of eight (or nine) altered mental states, which progress from euphoria, to calm, to dissolution of reality – culminating in cessation, or loss of consciousness. They are induced via sustained concentration, without any external stimuli or substances. This...
Nadia Asparouhova
Working notes for Summer of Protocols
I participated in the Summer of Protocols research program this summer as a Core Researcher. It was...
27th May 2023
I participated in the Summer of Protocols research program this summer as a Core Researcher. It was an 18-week program, funded by the Ethereum Foundation, that aimed to catalyze a wider exploration of protocols and their social implications.
I decided to focus on protocols as...
Nadia Asparouhova
Early stage funding markets for science - an analysis
In the summer of 2022, with support from Schmidt Futures, I took a closer look at several emerging...
23rd Jan 2023
In the summer of 2022, with support from Schmidt Futures, I took a closer look at several emerging science funding mechanisms – rapid grants, scout programs, and focused research organizations (FROs) – to understand how they serve the needs of early stage science. I also...
Nadia Asparouhova
Mapping out the tribes of climate
Climate is a gravity well for talent, but why don’t other, equally impactful topics attract talent...
30th Nov 2022
Climate is a gravity well for talent, but why don’t other, equally impactful topics attract talent in the same way? Why isn’t everyone dropping everything to work on homelessness, or global poverty, or curing cancer? With many peers in tech now working on climate issues, I tried...
Nadia Asparouhova
Cultivating agency
I didn’t always know that I wanted to have kids. I wasn’t against it, necessarily – for awhile,...
23rd Aug 2022
I didn’t always know that I wanted to have kids. I wasn’t against it, necessarily – for awhile, there were just more reasons in the “why not” column than the “why”: uncertainty about whether I’d be a good parent, fear of losing my identity, a lack of maternal instinct. Those...
Nadia Asparouhova
Idea machines
Tech as a system of values, and not just an industry, is heavily driven by its subcultures and their...
12th May 2022
Tech as a system of values, and not just an industry, is heavily driven by its subcultures and their ideologies. Where do these ideologies come from, and how do they influence what’s accomplished?
One of the most visible ideologies in tech is effective altruism (or EA), a...
Nadia Asparouhova
Understanding science funding in tech, 2011-2021
For those who sit between science and tech, it’s hard not to notice the proliferation of new...
2nd Mar 2022
For those who sit between science and tech, it’s hard not to notice the proliferation of new initiatives launched in the last two years, aimed at making major improvements in the life sciences especially.
While I don’t have a science background, nor any personal relationship to...
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