Zvi Mowshowitz

Zvi Mowshowitz is an American writer and member of the rationalist community who primarily discusses new developments in artificial intelligence. He is a former competitive Magic: The Gathering player and was CEO of MetaMed.

Zvi Mowshowitz
Zvi Mowshowitz playing poker at the Manifold conference in 2023
Residence	New York, NY, USA
Nationality	American
Pro Tour debut	1998 Pro Tour Los Angeles
Winnings	US$ 147,010[1]
Pro Tour wins (Top 8)	1 (4)[2]
Grand Prix wins (Top 8)	2 (9)[3]
Lifetime Pro Points	261[4]
Planeswalker Level	47 (Archmage)

Career

Mowshowitz is an alumnus of Columbia University and holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics.^[5][6] He co-founded and was the CEO of MetaMed, a medical research analysis firm.^[7] He has worked at Jane Street Capital, and has worked for the gambling industry in Las Vegas.^[7][8] He attempted to launch an online trading card game, Emergents, in 2020.^[7]

Magic: The Gathering

Mowshowitz held a developer intern position at Wizards of the Coast R&D in 2005.^[9] He created the deck TurboZvi.^[7] His first-place finishes at major competitions were the 1999 World Championships as part of the four-person United States national team, the 2001 Pro Tour Tokyo, and two 2003 Grand Prix. He has placed in the top eight of four Pro Tours, and earned over $140,000 playing Magic competitively.^[10] In 2007, Mowshowitz was elected into the Magic Hall of Fame.^[11]

Season	Event type	Location	Format	Date	Rank
1998–99	Grand Prix	Boston	Block Constructed	5–6 September 1998	4
1998–99	Pro Tour	New York	Block Constructed	30 April–2 May 1999	3
1998–99	Grand Prix	Washington D.C.	Limited	19–20 June 1999	4
1998–99	Nationals		Special	2–4 July 1999	4
1998–99	Worlds	Yokohama	National team	4–8 August 1999	1
1999–00	Invitational	Kuala Lumpur	Special	2–5 March 2000	3
2000–01	Grand Prix	Manchester	Limited	7–8 October 2000	8
2000–01	Pro Tour	Chicago	Standard	1–3 December 2000	7
2000–01	Pro Tour	Tokyo	Block Constructed	16–18 March 2001	1
2000–01	Masters	Barcelona	Booster Draft	1–4 May 2001	4
2001–02	Masters	New Orleans	Booster Draft	31 October–3 November 2001	5
2001–02	Masters	Osaka	Team Limited	14–17 March 2002	5
2001–02	Grand Prix	New Jersey	Team Limited	29–30 June 2002	2
2002–03	Grand Prix	New Orleans	Extended	3–4 January 2003	1
2002–03	Grand Prix	Boston	Limited	22–23 February 2003	7
2002–03	Masters	Yokohama	Booster Draft	8–11 May 2003	5
2002–03	Grand Prix	Pittsburgh	Team Limited	31 May–1 June 2003	1
2003–04	Grand Prix	Atlanta	Standard	29–30 August 2003	5
2003–04	Invitational	Los Angeles	Special	11–13 May 2004	4
2012–13	Grand Prix	Portland	Modern	11–12 May 2013	3

Last updated: 12 May 2013
Source: Wizards.com

Mowshowitz has written about Magic for several outlets, including the official Magic website.^[10]

Later career

Mowshowitz is on the board of directors for the Center for Applied Rationality, and is a member of the rationalist community.^[12] He also founded Balsa Research, a nonprofit think tank which advocated for the repeal of the Jones Act, increasing the housing supply, and reform of the National Environmental Policy Act.^[13] In 2023, Mowshowitz wrote an article for Vox on the topic of artificial intelligence safety.^[14]

Mowshowitz has a blog on Substack under the name "Don't Worry about the Vase". He has written on topics such as artificial intelligence, economics, and the COVID-19 pandemic.^{[15][16][non-primary source needed]}

Personal life

Mowshowitz is the son of American biochemist Deborah Mowshowitz. His parents have both worked as Columbia University professors.^[7]

Further reading

• Kushner, David (2005). Jonny Magic and the Card Shark Kids : how a gang of geeks beat the odds and stormed Las Vegas. Random House. ISBN 1-4000-6407-4.

Preceded by United States Matt Linde Mike Long Bryce Currence Jon Finkel

Magic: The Gathering Team World Champion With: John Hunka Kyle Rose Charles Kornblith 1999

Succeeded by United States Jon Finkel Chris Benafel Frank Hernandez Aaron Forsythe

External links

• Zvi Mowshowitz’s blog, “Don’t Worry About the Vase”
• Zvi Mowshowitz’s old blog on LiveJournal