time travel homework 2026

For those departing from 2025, there is A LOT that needs to be done.

If you are arriving from the future, please help out by grading this homework.

Resolutions

Here are things I'm resolved to continue doing in 2026.

Keep writing
- I almost haven't written anything nontrivial since high school. I'm really bad at it. If writing is thinking, I need to think more.
- GOAL: Write 12 nontrivial things. Short stories, essays, blog posts are all fair game.
Keep learning Chinese
- 我最近在看一些动画和电视剧，例如《凡人修仙传》和《赘婿》。我也用中文配音和字幕玩《巫师3》以及一些抽卡游戏，但我的读速很慢还有我的输出和表达能力很拉。
- GOAL: 写并朗读一篇文章
Keep learning Japanese
- I "finished" Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese and the Kaishi 1.5k Anki deck in 2024, but I had no clue what to do after and completely stopped for a year. これはぺんです。
- GOAL: 作文を書いて朗読する。(I translated that, 僕の日本語は下手です)
Keep drawing
- Four years ago, I wanted to be like Kim Jung Gi. His fast style, drawing with pen straight-from-imagination, blew me away. Today I draw slowly and struggle with likeness, perspective, and drawing from imagination.
- GOAL: Fill a giant sketchbook.
Keep learning CS
- When I dropped my compilers course in college, I justified it by thinking "I can just do a more interesting course online--later." Later has come in the form of CIS531 -- Compilers at Syracuse and I've started by learning Racket.
- GOAL: Build a compiler.

Here are things that happened in 2026.

The US and China have an unexpected warming of relations. Perhaps due to a common enemy. Or lover?
The Obvious Human-ai Interface Overlay is popularized. It is so named because it is so obvious in hindsight and everyone wonders "How did the linear chat interface last so long?" LLMs are not restricted by time or causality!
A cheap cure is found for a previously incurable disease. A grassroots campaign successfully pressures the pharma company into allowing generic production.

Goodluck.