Noonie Nom Luciano Strika on GPT-3, Wealth Taxes, and Learning Japanese

You know that feeling when you work really hard on something for really long and it feels like nobody really notices? Hacker Noon’s Annual Tech Industry Awards, the 2020 Noonies, are here to help with that. Nominate YOUR best people and products today at NOONIES.TECH. Speaking of the best people and products in technology, here’s a quick intro to 2020 Noonie Nominee, Luciano Strika, from Argentina, who’s been nominated in the Future Heroes and Technology categories.

1. Which 2020 Noonie have you been nominated for?

1. Hacker Noon Contributor of the Year - LINUX

2. Hacker Noon Contributor of the Year - PRODUCTIVITY

2. Tell us a bit about yourself.

I'm a Data Scientist who loves Deep Learning, Statistics and Data. I also think that explaining a topic to someone is the best way to make sure you understand it, and firmly believe in Cunningham's Law: make many mistakes online, so people correct you and help you learn (for free!).
I study Computer Science and work as a Machine Learning Engineer.

3. Tell us about the things you make / write / manage / build.

In my free time, whenever I get some, I like reading Machine Learning papers, and making them into code. Then I try to put what I learn into my own words and teach it to someone else.

Most of the time I'm either studying Computer Science topics for College, or working in designing new Machine Learning models for Fraud Prevention at MercadoLibre.

4. What are you most excited about right now?

GPT-3! OMG it's a Neural Network that can WRITE CODE. People who know a lot more than myself have predicted the Singularity is coming this year. I don't feel so opti-(pessi?)-mistic myself, but still feel like big things will keep coming.

5. What are you worried about right now?

So many things. Let's go with the obvious: Pandemic, Global Warming and Escalating Tensions between China and India (two nuclear states).

6. What's the most useful advice you've ever given somebody?

Preparation beats luck, every time.

7. How has the pandemic changed your life and/or career?

I really like working remotely. I still miss meeting people over a beer of course. But I wouldn't say it has had a tremendous impact in my life just yet. Fingers crossed it will stay that way.

8. If we gave you $10 million to invest in one thing right now, where would you put it?

10% goes to effective charities, 45% in very safe NASDAQ/S&P index funds, the other 45% in small AI startups that look promising. But this is definitely not my area of expertise.

9. What's an opinion you have that most people don't agree with?

Wealth taxes should be higher everywhere, especially in the first world. Big tax evasion should be dealt with with at least as much attention and energy as drug trafficking and violent crimes.

10. Which apps can't you live without?

Trello (browser), WhatsApp, Instagram, GMail I guess.

11. What are you currently learning?

Parsers and Formal Grammars (at school), plus some NLP on the side. For fun, I'm studying Japanese.


For much the same reasons Hacker Noon decided not to put good ideas behind pop-ups or paywalls — nor abuse your personal data to target you with creepy ads — we also decided that you don’t have to be a #thinkfluencer or have 50k followers on Twitter to earn the recognition that comes with a 2020 Noonie Nomination. 

NOONIES NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN ACROSS 5 CATEGORIES — technology, decentralization, software development, future heroes, and back to the internet, Blockchain — UNTIL AUGUST 12, 2020

Make somebody’s day and nominate them to be recognized in the internet’s most independent and community-driven awards: NOONIES.TECH.