Jasper Burns

I’m energized by learning, exploring, and creating.

With this one life, I want to fly planes, build companies, cook great meals, read great books, and be broadly capable.

I am a JD/MBA and Knight‑Hennessy Scholar at Stanford University.

Before that, I spent eight years in the Navy flying the EA‑18G Growler fighter jet (a variant of the F/A‑18 Super Hornet), as a social aide at the White House, and as a fellow at both McKinsey & Co. and the Institute for Law & AI.

I am a cross-functional technical operator. On deployment, I commanded strike packages of mixed fighter jets and ran a 43‑sailor division that took the squadron’s radar, electrical, and avionics systems from non-operational to mission-capable. As an undergraduate, I studied computer science; as a graduate student, I am leading multiplayer AI privacy research with a Stanford Engineering lab.

Library

Books I’ve read, synced from Goodreads.

The Righteous MindHaidt

The MartianWeir

Common SensePaine

On Writing WellZinsser

Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter PilotStockdale

1984Orwell

How to Win Friends & Influence PeopleCarnegie

Just MercyStevenson

Islam and the Future of ToleranceHarris

InfidelAli

America's War for the Greater Middle EastBacevich

Waking UpHarris

The End of FaithHarris

The Moral LandscapeHarris

Genius FoodsLugavere

The Road to CharacterBrooks

Practical EthicsSinger

Man's Search for MeaningFrankl

Homo DeusHarari

SuperintelligenceBostrom

Stem Cell TherapyRiordan

The Coddling of the American MindHaidt

The FountainheadRand

Atlas ShruggedRand

The Model ThinkerPage

The New RightMalice

Call Sign ChaosMattis

EnduranceLansing

The GeneMukherjee

UnveiledMohammed

EvictedDesmond

Thinking, Fast and SlowKahneman

"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!"Feynman

Being MortalGawande

EducatedWestover

The Black SwanTaleb

Starting StrengthRippetoe

Einstein's Relativity and the Quantum RevolutionWolfson

Skin in the GameTaleb

A Short History of Nearly EverythingBryson

Uncle Tom’s CabinStowe

The Anarchist HandbookMalice

The End of the World Is Just the BeginningZeihan

ShantaramRoberts

The Emperor of ScentBurr

The White PillMalice

PandemiaBerenson

The Spy and the TraitorMacintyre

AntifragileTaleb

Projects

Research, events, tools, and more.

research
What agents find, and what they give away.
Visitmultiplayerbench.ai
project
The Federalist Papers, in plain English.
Visiteasyfederalist.com
project
AI automation, whether you want it or not.
Visitsmithers.bot
design
I originated and designed the Seal of the White House Military Social Aide, which has now been incorporated into the program in perpetuity.
Visiten.wikipedia.org
event
I ideated, originated, sourced, and co-chaired the Symposium on Law and AI (featuring OpenAI, Palantir, the Hoover Institution, xAI, and more) to discuss AI’s impact on freedom and the state.
Visitconferences.law.stanford.edu
event
I served as master of ceremonies for Stanford DEFCON, the largest student-run conference at Stanford, with over 850 in-person attendees and 1,200+ registrants.
Visitstanforddefcon.org