About My Work
I began studying our society in the 1990s because of a vague sense that something wasn’t right, that we might be on an undesirable trajectory. I was guided by concerns in two broad subjects. The first was the impact of worldviews. The second was the impact of our monetary system on the quality of society.
A person’s worldview includes everything that they understand about how the world works and how it should work. I saw that our worldview can keep us from seeing and understanding reality, and thereby limit our ability to understand and solve personal and social problems. In particular, I was interested in two things. Some element of a worldview, for example human nature or economics, might not be quite right, or even be outright wrong. Second, we might not integrate the elements of our worldview, for example we might not integrate our understanding of human nature and the results of a free market economy.
My interest in the second broad subject, our monetary system, is different from what we normally think of regarding money. For thousands of years, societies have dealt with the moral and economic aspects of money, but in modern times, we must look behind money and see the monetary system. We require an understanding of the essential nature of money, something almost philosophical in character. After years of study, I increasingly understood that understanding our monetary system is a prerequisite for grasping why our society is what it is today.
Those two concerns—integrated worldview and monetary systems—have guided my study for almost 30 years. I explored many paths and byways through each subject. As I was gaining understanding, I continually observed what was happening within society, always connecting concepts with reality. The first two decades of the new millennium, especially following the financial crisis of 2008, confirmed my vague sense from the 1990s. Our society was indeed on an undesirable trajectory. Many of our problems were getting worse in spite of attempts to fix them. Social and political divisiveness rapidly worsened.
I did not begin my work 30 years ago with any idea of writing a book. If such a thought entered my mind, I discarded it. Along the way, however, I saw that what I learned was useful in explaining what was happening and what was going to happen. Therefore, in 2019, I made the decision to write a book. It took several years to distill what I learned and present it in a (hopefully) coherent manner. My book was published in the first part of 2023.
My objective in publishing the book was not to make money. I did not do any prerelease marketing or subsequent promotion. I simply wanted to present my work as a message from one citizen to fellow citizens. Motivated largely by continued assessment and analysis of what was happening in our country, and that my book helped make sense of it, I decided to invest in extending its reach and influence. This website is my investment to do that. I believe my work can make a positive contribution in fixing our problems in developing a society in which everyone has a chance to flourish.
About Me
I was raised in the quintessential rural American agricultural community. I attended the same small school for all twelve grades. Through high school and college I worked various jobs including farmhand, retail clerk, welder’s assistant, hay hauler, and lab assistant. Many times since then, I’ve been thankful for those diverse early experiences.
My university work resulted in an undergraduate degree in physics and mathematics and a masters degree in engineering. During this time, I realized I had a strong interest in applying first principles and a proclivity for being a generalist integrating multiple subjects rather than a deep specialist in one subject.
Out of college, my first job was with a manufacturing firm. A few years later, I joined a newly-formed company focused on engineering simulation software. Within a few years, I held an ownership interest in the company. We eventually sold part of the company, and as part of the deal I worked for a large multinational company.
Following a sabbatical of a few years, I served as an executive for a nonprofit organization. After that, I retired from formal employment to work on various personal projects, the most important of which is the subject of this site.
It was during the sabbatical that I directed my attention from the fields of science and engineering to those of economics, sociology, and philosophy. Along the way, I had many opportunities for travel, from the plains of Africa to the richest cities, and from the free world to the communist. I’ve benefited greatly from the diverse experiences and opportunities with which I have been blessed.