I was born, screaming, in Prestbury Village, south of the city of Manchester, England on the 7th
September 1949. I've not looked back since. Taught, albeit with some reluctance, the standard
curriculum up to school leaving age, and bored, I left to seek my fortune, and to educate myself
in things that mattered...
I originally wanted to be a photographer, so took on an apprenticeship as a Engineer (well, it paid better...). It suited me then to undertake some practical education, and thus I qualified in 1971 with an IEE / IERE Higher National Certificate in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
I've always had a logical and enquiring mind, so I took up the study of Philosophy, Parapsychology and related subjects soon after. Not being entirely happy (after some years of casual enquiry) with the empirical underpinnings of these black arts, I decided I needed some more sophisticated background in relativistic time and space. Thus motivated I started to do part-time study in the sciences.
So belatedly I obtained a BA degree, at the U.K.'s interdisciplinary Open University in 1983, mainly in a combination of Physics and Computer Science courses, but with smatterings of Humanities, Maths and Technology for balance. I'd revamped my career by then and had moved from engineer to computer manager in evolutionary fashion - many microsteps (variety is the spice of life and innovation food of the Gods...).
In 1985 I was elected to membership of The Institute for the Management of Information Systems (then called The Institute of Data Processing Management). I was also a member of the Institution of British Telecommunications Engineers (since disbanded).
I first came across the 'Complexity Sciences' (as such) in 1992 when I obtained a copy of Steven Levy's excellent book 'Artificial Life: The Quest for a New Creation' and immediately realised that I had found my destiny... a field wide open and all encompassing !
Before I 'dropped out' to take up my current research full time in 1994, I was gainfully employed for many years...
Including as:
If you want the gory details, click Here
Many of the insights gained from these occupations and interests have proved fruitful, I think, in putting the complexity sciences into perspective and relating them to the 'real' world. And also in recognizing that, for most people, the 'real' world is merely a Platonic shadow of what is possible...
My hobbies include listening to music (all periods, most styles), raising exotic plants (sometimes), writing iffy poetry (judge for yourself), reading science fantasy (wish fulfillment ?), enjoying art (real or imaginary), meditating (stop the world...), design (quarts into pint pots) and managing my investments (ouch).
I now live in New Mills, High Peak, Derbyshire, U.K., am single, male and surreal. Am I old ? Age is all in the mind... Well, I'm between zero and 2500 years, mostly, (depends on which parts of me you take - they constantly change !). My molecules say they are some 15 billion years young. Such liars - they were just little quarks then. Time and space are relative, so they say...but then so is life.
( oh, such theories are so hard to put into practice ! )
'Poore man, thou searchest round to find out death,
but missest life at hand,'
( Vanitie, George Herbert 1593-1633 )
Think, Feel and Share, your very existence depends on it...
Cheerio
Chris
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John Hadfield, a contented and intelligent young cable jointer who in 1967 introduced me (inside a manhole) to the idea that philosophy wasn't only an 'academic' pursuit but was really all about 'people', and who died, so unexpectedly, soon after.
Bert Graham, a retired, then part-time cleaner, whose 1970's synergistic help to all around him, although he was treated as generally now 'worthless' by the 'system', rivaled Mother Teresa.
Beatrice Powell, a wonderful and caring, mature 'clerical officer' lady, who treated her 1975's corporate group as her children, and looked after us with all the warmth that that implies.
Vicky Rocca, a delightful and bubbly young ex-member of my team in the late 1980s, who cared so deeply about everyone around her, and died tragically, in her early twenties, in a car crash.
Ron Ross, a wise and balanced older colleague, who kept me in the early 1990's on a meaningful trajectory over the years, when the 'pressures-that-be' threatened to destroy my 'common-sense'.
R.I.P. my friends, I loved you all, you were those very individual and very special humans we so rarely meet.