# David Jiang

> Principal of Theory A LLC. Previously software engineer at Google (Wing /
> Google X) and Apple (Siri). Independent builder working at the
> intersection of finance, AI, and classical Chinese thought. Based between
> San Mateo, California and Shanghai, China. Works in English and Mandarin.

Contact: dj@theory-a.com

## Stance

Across projects and writing I'm trying to make hidden structure visible — in
markets, in language, in the self-deceptions organizations and people run on.
Recurring concerns: self-deception as the central human problem; embodied
emotion as suppressed intelligence (Gestalt / somatic / Focusing tradition);
structure over character (office politics, geopolitics, and relationships as
emergent from structure rather than moral failure); pattern recognition
across traditions — Daoist, Confucian, Gestalt, somatic, probabilistic —
over credentialed depth in any one.

Frameworks I've coined: *Neural Annealing*, *Mask and Daemon*, *Weaponized
Taste*, *Pattern Integrity*, *Fluid Plurality*. Influences I return to: Jed
McKenna, Keith Johnstone (*Impro*), James Carse (*Finite and Infinite Games*),
Albert Hirschman (*Exit, Voice, and Loyalty*), Adlerian psychology, the
Daoist and Confucian classics.

Works in English and Mandarin; lives between San Mateo and Shanghai — an
epistemic stance as much as a logistical one, since the two information
ecosystems don't agree and the disagreements are where the signal is.

## Garden — load-bearing notes

For depth of worldview, these posts at [garden.theory-a.com](https://garden.theory-a.com) are the load-bearing ones:

- *Resentment as Treasure*, *The Safety Trap*, *The Diagnosed Life* — self-deception
- *Emotional Wisdom*, *Anger as Secondary Emotion*, *Focusing* — embodied intelligence
- *Mask and Daemon*, *Weaponized Taste*, *Locally Optimal* — social dynamics
- *Seeing Like a Cat*, *Feline Philosophy*, *Puer Aeternus* — character and relationship

## Profile

- [Home](https://dj.theory-a.com/)
- [Projects](https://dj.theory-a.com/projects)
- [Writing](https://dj.theory-a.com/writing)
- [Poems](https://dj.theory-a.com/writing/poems)
- [Resume (markdown)](https://dj.theory-a.com/resume.md)

## External

- [Theory A (company)](https://www.theory-a.com/)
- [Idea Garden — thinking in public](https://garden.theory-a.com/)
- [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-jiang-74618251/)
- [GitHub](https://github.com/dlwjiang)
- [Path & Play (YouTube interviews)](https://www.youtube.com/@PathAndPlay)
- [Patent US10700950B2](https://patents.google.com/patent/US10700950B2/en)

## Projects — Finance

- [Theory A](https://www.theory-a.com/): financial intelligence platform fusing Black-Scholes-style random-walk priors with fundamental overlays on a shared temporal axis to surface value dislocations.
- [Options Chain Visualizer](https://www.theory-a.com/optionsChain/NVDA): implied-move "cone" plotted from contract breakevens.
- [Kelly Game](https://www.theory-a.com/kellyGame): interactive position-sizing trainer.

## Projects — Machine Learning

- [Komi Count](https://komi-count.theory-a.com): fully local Go/Baduk image scorer, on-device CV + WebAssembly.
- [Neural Network Visualization](https://mnist.theory-a.com): interactive MNIST companion to 3blue1brown.

## Projects — AI-Native Tools

- [World History](https://world-history.theory-a.com): LLM-powered timeline weaver for contextualizing historical events.
- [A Casual Dao De Jing](https://a-casual-dao.theory-a.com/): approachable re-imagining of the Daoist classic.
- [A Casual Gita](https://a-casual-gita.theory-a.com/): companion project for the Bhagavad Gita.

## Projects — Writing, Interviews, Art

- [Meowmeow & Woofwoof](https://meowwoof.theory-a.com/gallery): bilingual (EN / 中文) anthology of adult fables on liquid modernity.
- [Path & Play](https://www.youtube.com/@PathAndPlay): interview series bridging China and the West.
- [Harmonious Rites](https://constitution.theory-a.com): satire on Confucian 吃人 dynamics, in the tradition of Lu Xun.
- [Yuan Ling Tarot](https://tarot.theory-a.com): custom tarot deck of primal-spirit archetypes.

## Experience (summary)

- **Principal, Theory A LLC** — Mar 2020 – Present
- **Software Engineer, Google (Wing / X)** — Jan 2019 – Feb 2020
- **Software Engineer, Apple (Siri)** — Jan 2016 – May 2018
- **Software Engineer, Splunk** — Jul 2014 – Jan 2016
- **Software Engineer, Neustar** — Jan 2014 – Jul 2014

See LinkedIn for authoritative history.

## Optional

- [D3.js Portfolio](http://dlwjiang.github.io/d3portfolio2/): earlier data-viz experiments.
- [Bayes Impact Hackathon 2014](https://bayeshack.devpost.com/submissions/30292-detecting-and-visualizing-prostitution-rings-teamthorn): grand-prize civic-tech project.