.. include:: /_templates/include-file/page-prefix.rst .. meta:: :description: About LLoL --- Laurence Loewe of Laodicea. Research scientist turned matheology researcher. The person proposing to be tested by the Two Cent a Day Experiment. :keywords: LLoL, Laurence Loewe, Laodicea, matheology, transparency, experiment, ResearchCity, DARL, quantitative biology, existential risk :author: LLoL as Laurence Loewe of Laodicea ************************************************************ LLoL --- Laurence Loewe of Laodicea ************************************************************ **The person proposing to be tested.** This page exists because the :doc:`Two Cent a Day Experiment ` asks you to fund independent adversarial testing of one person's radical transparency commitment. You have every right to know who that person is, what qualifies them, and why you should (or should not) take this seriously. The Short Version =================== Laurence Loewe is a research scientist who set aside a career in quantitative biology in 2020 to investigate whether the existential threats facing humanity have a common structural cause --- and whether that cause has a structural solution. He works under the name LLoL --- Laurence Loewe of Laodicea --- because Laodicea was the biblical church that thought it was fine and was not. The name is a permanent reminder that he is not OK. He is not asking you to believe him. He is asking you to fund the infrastructure that tests him --- rigorously, adversarially, publicly, permanently. Scientific Background ======================= Loewe was born on 6 May 1969 in Cape Town and holds German nationality. He earned a Diplom Biologe (equivalent to MSc in molecular biology) from the University of Konstanz in 1995, followed by a Dr. rer. nat. (magna cum laude) from the Technical University of Munich in 2002, with a dissertation on evolutionary bioinformatics and the prediction of genetic stability in asexual genomes using global distributed computing. He held extended postdoctoral positions at the University of Edinburgh (2003--2010), working in theoretical population genetics, process algebra modelling, and quantitative systems biology. In 2011 he joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison as Assistant Professor of Medical Genetics in the Laboratory of Genetics and as faculty of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, anchored by a 2012 NSF Career Award ($1.06M) to extend systems biology modelling approaches to genetics and ecology. His scientific work spans evolutionary genetics, computational modelling, biodata science, and programming language design. He is best known for foundational contributions to Muller's ratchet theory, mechanistic evolutionary systems biology, and the creation of Evolvix --- a programming language designed to simplify accurate modelling of biological systems under uncertainty. He has published over 30 refereed articles in journals including Science, Nature Ecology & Evolution, Genetics, PLoS Biology, and BMC Systems Biology, and his work has been covered by the BBC, The Times, and other international media. More: `Google Scholar profile `__ | `Full 46-page CV (PDF) `__ Why This Matters for the Experiment ====================================== The scientific background is relevant because the experiment is not a spiritual exercise --- it is a mechanism design problem. The person being tested needs to be capable of: 1. **Building formal models** that can be adversarially tested. Loewe's career was building formal models of biological systems. The :doc:`matheology models ` are the same kind of work applied to different subject matter. 2. **Surviving adversarial review.** Peer review in science is adversarial by design. Loewe has 20+ years of experience having his work attacked by reviewers and surviving (or not surviving) on the merits. The :doc:`transparency regime ` is an extension of this practice. 3. **Maintaining intellectual honesty under pressure.** The experiment requires permanent NOT-OK self-assessment --- never claiming to have figured it out. Loewe's track record includes publicly walking away from a tenured-track career when he concluded that the existential risk problem was more urgent than his academic work. Whether that was wise or foolish is exactly what the experiment tests. The Laodicea Connection ========================= The epithet "of Laodicea" is deliberate. Ancient Laodicea was a prosperous banking community that received one of seven letters in Revelation --- and was told it was lukewarm, blind to its own condition, and in danger of being rejected. The Council of Laodicea later banned mathematicians (with banking expertise) from becoming clergy, blocking the emergence of someone capable of combining a warm heart with a cool mathematical mind. Loewe adopted the name as a permanent self-diagnosis: he has made enough related errors to recognize the pattern, and determined to become part of the solution rather than the problem. The name is not a claim to special status. It is a reminder of how easy it is to think you are fine when you are not. Current Work ============== Since 2020 Loewe has operated independently as founder of the Datageddon Armageddon Research Lab (DARL), a sole proprietorship based in Middleton, Wisconsin. His current work: - :doc:`Matheology ` --- applying axiomatic methods to theological questions, seeking convergence across traditions - :doc:`The Frying Pan Proposition ` --- the game-theoretic argument for why irreversible commitment works - :doc:`The Transparency Manifesto ` --- the specific mechanisms that make the commitment testable - :doc:`The Two Cent a Day Experiment ` --- the proposal to fund independent testing of all of the above The Evolvix compiler architecture remains central to this vision as a technical foundation for reliable, long-term knowledge infrastructure. Personal Contact: LLoL@balospe.com .. only:: html .. image:: /_file/pdf/gnp/mmv3/dusty-deep-data/loewe-about-me-science/loewe-llol-resume-2026m03d02-cover-hardship-explained-scientific-cv-2020_2003-46page.webp :alt: 46 page CV LLoL manually compiled :width: 100pc :align: center :target: /_file/pdf/gnp/mmv3/dusty-deep-data/loewe-about-me-science/loewe-llol-resume-2026m03d02-cover-hardship-explained-scientific-cv-2020_2003-46page.pdf .. only:: latex .. image:: /_file/pdf/gnp/mmv3/dusty-deep-data/loewe-about-me-science/loewe-llol-resume-2026m03d02-cover-hardship-explained-scientific-cv-2020_2003-46page.pdf :alt: 46 page CV LLoL manually compiled :width: 100pc :align: center Acknowledgements ================== The scientific biography above is based on a summary created by AI (Claude Code) from the `46-page CV LLoL manually compiled (PDF) `__.