Åsmund
Folkestad.

asmund.sf@gmail.com
GitHub·Substack·LinkedIn

I'm a theoretical physicist in San Francisco building AI tools for science. I did my PhD at MIT on black holes and quantum gravity. Now I’m a founding research engineer at the seed-stage startup Undermind.

I write on aesthetics, pragmatism, and physics at Mechanics of Aesthetics. I also paint with electromagnetic fields, build visual arts algorithms and software, and produce electronic music with choirs and pipe organs. Next time you’re hosting an abandoned cathedral rave you should check it out.

Artworks

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God is NaN II — a dark seated figure facing a radiant disk across pale blue and oxblood contours — God is NaN II2026

Music

Temple Juice2024 Fresh Pressed Deity2024 Organ Glow2023 Sacred Dualityalbum with Achenar · 2014

About

Current projects

EikonalVisual arts system for painting with field theory getrandomness.comCurated randomness for agent creativity

Essays

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Your AI agent needs randomnessAvoiding slop Equations that demand beautyThe remarkable physics of constraints Spirits and the incompleteness of physicsThe spirits beyond the horizon of theory God is NaNPragmatist mysticism and the nonsense of Bayesian metaphysics Beauty as entropic fine-tuningWhy beauty should be measured in bits

Papers

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Holographic Time Crystals vs PenroseJHEP · 2025 Subregion independence in gravityJHEP · 2024 Penrose Inequality as a Constraint on the Low Energy Limit of Quantum GravityPRL · 2023 Canonical purification of evaporating black holesPRD · 2022