About

What I believe

— Manifesto —

1. Play the long game. Broad longtermism plus infinite-game thinking — paths cross again, and new doors open when you least expect them. Great projects need patience. But not too much: I might die tomorrow.
2. Build = ship something useful. Ideas don't count. Concrete solutions and shipped output do. That said, the process — how you deliver — is itself part of a builder's craft. Storytelling is one example: opinions and ideas are cheap; how you frame them so others actually buy in is where the value sits.
3. Pursue "mind-body balance," not "work-life balance." Just a homo sapiens who likes projects that pull double (maybe triple) duty. Right now: a daily outdoor journal livestream that also lets me play Pikmin and forces a ritual to actually go outside. Downside: maybe none of the three reaches a perfect score. Still searching for the balance.
4. As someone who isn't easily happy — and an amateur but obsessive student of cognitive and brain science for 15+ years — through self-awareness and self-inquiry, I've converged on this formula: Happiness = peace and ease = maximize(agency^[1]) + minimize(expectations) + self-acceptance + meaningful connection. Through sharing, creating, being kind, and working with you, I hope to help more people feel at peace — and explore more possibilities.
5. I don't confuse law with the status quo. People are imperfect; so are the institutions we live inside. Law has two jobs: stay flexible and evolve with a changing world, and maintain a predictable social order. I lean toward the first — joining the legal engineering that shifts the boundary of human civilization.

Currently building

• 🪙 PIF12 — 12-year Soul-bound Token circle. Mainnet 6/21.
• 🎯 Long Game — gamified life challenges (Builder · Storyteller · Walker).
• 🤖 Qualia — this site's AI guide, RAG over my public writing, potentially merged with my digital coach CQ and Wiki-LLM to become my Chief of Staff Lia.
• 🌱 Seed wall — 370+ thinking fragments. Including this site itself: I'm migrating my old social-media content over to expand my own autonomy.
• 🧭 Now — what I've been up to recently.

Get in touch

Book a time via the Google Calendar below for a quick chat.

• 📅 Book via Google Calendar for a quick chat.
• ✉️ hello@jasonjlai.net — within 10 days as a rule, usually faster.
• 🎙️ Speaking invites — looking forward to all kinds of talk invites this year.
• 🤖 Or chat with Qualia first — I pay her, so she has more patience than I do.

Credentials

• New York Registered Attorney
• Juris Doctor, William & Mary Law School
• Bachelor of Arts, National Taiwan University (Political Science, International Relations)
• MOE Government Scholarship (International Negotiation)
• AIGP — IAPP AI Governance Professional
• Former government Director-General's secretary; former General Counsel at a fintech startup