Special  chapter for Novapublishers.com,  4/6/10

For electronic book: The Role of the Private Sector in Energy, Health, Global and Offworld Issues

 

 

PRIVATE ENTERPRISE CHALLENGES OFFWORLD

 

– UTILIZING SPACE RESOURCES FOR ECONOMIC RENEWAL

 

 

       Philip Robert Harris, Ph. D.*

 

INTRODUCTION

 

     The history of exploration reveals a pattern. First, government and the military enter the unknown world to establish basic infrastructure. Then private commercial entities and non-profit organizations follow with settlement and industrialization. That was most evident in the New World of the Americas,

from North to South, especially during the 15^th to 17^th centuries.  Europeans arrived there initially under government sponsorship with military support to explore and establish outposts or colonies. The next stage saw large trading companies and entrepreneurs recruiting investors and colonists for the exploitation of new opportunities and wealth. And so it has evolved with outer space and its infinite resources. Government space agencies, initially from Russia and the United States, opened the space frontier through their cosmonauts and astronauts, mainly military pilots and scientific or medical personnel. In the first fifty years of the Space Age, the private sector was involved largely through aerospace contractors and satellite communication corporations. The 21^st century has seen the emergence of space entrepreneurs and tourism. Private enterprise worldwide will now become the principal force behind humanity’s expansion offworld, resulting in major development of our potential as a species!

 

    Today, there is global concern on how to recover from the current economic recession. In America, for example, the public, like members of government, seemingly are fixated on a $12 plus trillion national debt that originated with its last Presidential administration. Daily, this liability grows alarmingly when interest is added!  In such serious financial crises, the attention of most citizens is not on outer space and its development. Yet, in the United States, for instance,  there is a case for the White House and  Congress to make in support of space investments. Possibly, the only long-term strategy we have for reducing national deficits is by immediately utilizing space resources. This approach is in harmony with the President’s 2010 State of the Union Address which encourages innovation, entrepreneurship,  creation of new infrastructure and more jobs to get the country out of its “fiscal hole” and contribute to international economic recovery.

 

     The American taxpayer still awaits  a “return on investment” for their huge expenditures on the Apollo mission program.  But the profitable satellite industry has already proven the case for greater funding of space business endeavors. Space tourism and transportation are already demonstrating the possibilities for  private business.  Now is the time to enlighten citizens of the vast resources to be tapped on the Moon. We could not only mine the lunar surface for valuable minerals and gems, but we could use its water and regolith to support luna industrialization and settlement!  An increased focus on space undertakings will not only provide new knowledge and job growth, but stimulate science and education. High frontier activities are complex, costly, and risky for both life and fortunes. Therefore, it is my conviction, there is a need to form a Global Space Trust in which both private and public sectors may cooperate in joint ventures to build less expensive offworld transportation systems and infrastructure. The model provided by 16 nations to agree on the construction and operation of the International Space Station needs to be extended so as to encourage more private sector participation and management. Such collaboration is needed in the next stage of developing human facilities and enterprise for permanent return to the Moon, and eventually onward journeys to Mars and beyond!  To that end, some advocates have called for the founding of a Lunar Economic Development Authority or Lunar Economic Infrastructure Corporation.

 

     Further, the world’s aerospace community has an obligation and expertise to inform our fellow citizens that by moving beyond Earth, we can preserve our planet and keep it a green paradise.  Gradually, all of the mining that despoils our home planet can be transferred to the isolation of the Moon, including atomic and fusion energy. Instead of using fossil fuels that pollute our environment, there is also endless, clean space-based energy to use, such as through a Lunar Solar Power System, on or around the Moon. We need the vision of  the rocket scientist, Krafft Ehricke, on the extraterrestrial imperative – he had  an open mindset about making the most of solar system opportunities and its endless resources! Realise that both  planetary and national security  depend upon vigorous space undertakings involving both the public and private sectors.  

 

TRANSFORMING  SPACE  VISIONS  INTO  REALITIES

 

     Human dreams and ideas span time, often taking centuries before being transformed into worthwhile activities. Some of our forebears dimly perceived the spectacular achievements which this generation has witnessed since the dawn of the Space Age. But so few are aware of humanity’s challenges ahead in exploring and settling offworld! Ultimately, that process will lead to a higher state of consciousness for our species, as well as a new designation for humanity – spacekind. Only then will our species truly achieve its full potential.

 

     In the future, our descendants may remember the 21^th century primarily for proving that humanity is not Earth-bound, but that our species is able to live and work in a microgravity environment. The last five decades may be viewed as a watershed period for commercial space and living aloft. It was a period when nations shifted from space competition to cooperation, from a space race to forming joint ventures for international macroprojects. The satellite industry not only turned our world into a global village by its communication capabilities, but demonstrated that it could be an extremely profitable

and useful undertaking. Where would health care, mobile phones, and global telecommunications be without space technology! Furthermore, orbital imaging and sensing have shown myriad practical applications on Earth, even in protecting our planet’s environment. The Russian space station Mir became the first platform for true international cooperation by agreements which brought aboard Europeans, Japanese, and even Americans. Today, the International Space Station expands the opportunities for its national partners to prove that space is the place for synergy. Hopefully, China will soon be invited to participate in that venture.  Before the end of this decade, the whole ISS administration should be privatised and commercialised. Now spacefaring nations have much to gain in forming partnerships in lunar missions, particularly toward the goal of  returning humans to the Moon permanently!

 

To lead the exploration and development of the space frontier, advancing science, technology, and enterprise, by building institutions and systems that make accessible vast new resources and support human settlements beyond Earth orbit, from the highlands of the Moon to the plains of Mars.

(Pioneering the Space Frontier, 1986, p. 2.)

 

     To actually implement such lofty goals requires global transformational leadership in both the public and the private sectors now and in the centuries ahead. The business community at large, not just aerospace and communication satellite companies, must lead in the creation of a space ethos that supports an enlarged and well-funded space endeavors, both in the public and private sectors. Yes, space is a place for fulfilling dreams, as well as for acqiring knowledge and promoting free enterprise!

 

     But how? Specifically, as a case in point, how can America further capitalize upon its $20 billion plus investment in the Apollo lunar landings? How can all nations get payback on their total space expenditures, especially through the utilization of space-based resources? Some innovative answers may be gleaned from the reports and recommendations of various space studies over past decades (e.g., NASA-SP509, 1992).  Apart from the technical and economic insights, especially for the establishment of a lunar base, these studies include proposals for:

 

• building public consensus and financial support for the space program;
• initiatives within the private sector to foster the peaceful use of space by its exploration and industrialization;
• legislation that would transform the nation’s space agency, as well as its policies and procedures so as to  facilitate private space enterprise;
• revision of bureaucratic Federal rules and regulations regarding private space launches and activities;
• promotion of educational and research endeavors that prepare the next generation of spacefarers for offworld challenges!

 

Outer space is also a place for science and astronomy, and much moe! Already, a private undertaking is under way to build an automated International Lunar Observatory (EM: info@iloa.org). At this juncture, the justification for peaceful and commercial development of space resources is more human and scientific, than economic or political. The rationale for moving forward on the space frontier has to do with discoveries which maintain technological excellence, security, and leadership in a knowledge culture!  Space undertakings can benefit the Earth’s peoples, especially in the developing economies, by technology transfer within the twin planet economies of Earth-Moon. Our aspirations should be to actualize our potential by extending human presence throughout our universe. One proposal from Kim Peart of far-away Tasmania is worthy of implementation – namely, the formation of a Solar Peace Corps to take a proactive role to ensure peace and security within our solar system, especially through utilization of the Sun’s energy and system’s resources. The aim is to connect Earth’s children to the wealth of a Solar economy.

 

    Here are five specific strategies that our government and space activists can take toward the creation of a spacefaring civilization:

 

1. 1.       National,  Regional, and Global  Convocations on Space Enterprises

 

Individuals and organizations can raise the public’s awareness by sponsoring space enterprise forums at both the local and world levels. Although this can be accomplished in actual group meetings, the best prospects for raising public consciousness on the necessity of space exploration and development may be the Internet and international television. Think back to the global media encounters sponsored by rock stars, environmentalists, and others with a humanitarian cause.  Suppose supporters were to promote the existing Global Space Day to include world television and computer exchanges about humanity’s future beyond Earth. The primary objective would be to further understanding and consensus on improving the quality of life for this planet’s inhabitants by peaceful, commercial exploration and use of space-based resources. The second purpose would be to help earthkind appreciate the importance of human migration to the Moon and beyond. The impact on world citizens would go beyond present space gatherings among only the professional elite. It is the masses of human being who need information and  education about the necessity for our moving beyond Earth. Then people might become global leaders in the creation of a World Space Fair.

.

1. 2.       Alternative Funding of Space Enterprises

 

New options must be pursued for financing space ventures, other than through the taxes and the annual governmental budget allocations. That traditional public sector approach will not obtain the $700 billion which the National Commission on Space estimated is required over the next five decades to open up the space frontier. Nor will the $200 billion plus needed to build a lunar base be secured by usual financial methods. Where are funds of that magnitude to come from, especially with huge national deficits and legislative spending restrictions? The history of both the Shuttle and the Space Station to date has been that of government cut-backs which undermined NASA designs and safety in mission planning and execution. In this century, the funding will come mainly from private investments and venture capitalists.

Creating a space ethos implies getting the masses of our citizens involved in space ventures, by some manner or other. In a democratic, free enterprise society, what better way to accomplish this than as a “financial investor.” Innovative ways for space financing must be sought that provide citizens and entrepreneurs with financial incentives, like tax rebates, sale of bonds, or opportunities for private equity funds. To capitalize upon the enormous public interest and good will generated by the space program in the past sixty years, alternative or supplementary funding possibilities should be explored, including the authorization of stock sales in limited R&D technological space partnerships or trading companies. Recall that back in the Sputnik days, the COMSAT offering on the stock exchange was oversubscribed by the public!

 

Public lotteries to support scientific exploration and civilizing ventures in the newly opened frontiers are part of national experiences. Since the 15^th century, European countries have used the lottery device to raise capital for public works. In 1612, the English used this means to support the Jamestown settlement. In the New World, the colonists and first citizens of the American republic employed this mechanism to fund the establishment of higher education, including Harvard, Kings College (Columbia), Dartmouth, Yale, and other universities. In the 19^th century, Americans again used lotteries to open up the Western frontier. During the present decade in the U.S.A., for instance, lotteries have become popular again within states to fund public services, particularly education. Today, many foreign countries, such as Australia and Mexico, successfully utilize lotteries or games of chance as a means of raising money to accomplish social goals. In the United States, the National Space Society (www.nss.org) in particular, should lobby for establishment of a World  Space Lottery Fund.

 

 If income produced from new funding sources is to alleviate the tax burden of central governments relative to space expenditures, the investment scope must be vastly broadened. That is what underlies the proposal of attorney Declan O’Donnell and myself in the 1990s to establish space authorities, such as a Lunar Economic Development Authority, modelled on the successful Tennessee Valley Authority. Presently, a successor strategy is being suggested in terms of a Lunar Infrastructure Development Corporation, by Drs. Buzz Aldrin and Tom Matula. More creative methods of external financing of space enterprise will occur with the formation of innovative institutions for that purpose. With the proper space ethos in a country, extraterrestrial endeavors would be perceived as a primary national interest and asset. The public generally does not fully appreciate the handsome paybacks and spinoffs that resulted from previous space investments. To ensure citizen involvement in underwriting civilian space ventures, more research is needed both by government and universities on this subject.

 

Were more private space capitalization encouraged, then public policy makers and world leaders would be challenged to cooperate in setting disbursement objectives for the money so raised. The public is more likely to contribute enthusiastically by purchasing space bonds, stocks, or lottery tickets if the initial funds raised were devoted exclusively or primarily to offworld economic, international, and scientific use, in preference to military “star wars” type of activities. For example, the initial target might be in the area of space transportation systems. That is, to build the space “highway” for the first few hundred kilometres out of our “gravity well” into Lower Earth Orbit, the most difficult part of interplanetary travel. Global participation in financing joint space ventures could provide advanced aerospace planes and reusable launch vehicles capable of operating in geosynchronous orbit or beyond…. Just as the Conestoga wagons and railroad opened up Western resources to the nation, so will these less expensive spacecraft bring resources from orbit back to benefit the home planet.

 

There already exist basic constituencies to enhance the success for alternative forms of space promotion and financing, such as among:

 

• 3,000,000 members of fifty space advocacy groups worldwide who have an estimated aggregate budget today of more than $30 million;
• beside the science fiction supporters, millions of space media fans from Star Trek television viewers and other numerous motion pictures like 2001 and Apollo 13, to the worldwide audience who witness the satellite televising of space feats or watching television productions, such as Disney’s Plymouth series about the first lunar community;
• the millions of people who make up the global space community – aerospace workers and contractors, astronomers and engineers, professors and students, et al.

 

    Before his death, Gerard O’Neill, the visionary scientist for the high frontier, predicted that it will be private capital that will eventually finance space industrialization and colonization. The continued internationalization of space activities will attract such global investment.

 

1. 3.       Refocusing of National Space Agencies

 

The emergence of new work culture based on knowledge calls for the organizational renewal of varied space administrations within the spacefaring nations. Not only do they need to cooperate more effectively on planning joint ventures, but there may be a need now for creation of a Global Space Administration, Authority, or Agency. Such an entity could coordinate the combined efforts of both the public and private sectors in space development worldwide. Such an international institution might prevent overlapping missions, facilitate cost savings, and concentrate efforts on space macroprojects with the best prospects for ROI. With a modernized charter, this space clearinghouse and research center might obtain more creative financing and planning of space activities, particularly with reference to space technology transfer, as well as attracting more venture capital and licensing space trading corporations. In past centuries, great trading corporations were formed by rulers and/or private investors to facilitate exploration and commerce in unknown or foreign lands. The 21^st century may replicate this approach by international space trading entities, comparable to existing multinational communication satellite corporations.

 

1. Increasing Involvement in Space by Government Entities

 

In the United Statesm the Executive branch of our government can do much to refocus its departments and agencies toward space development. The U. S. State Department could be doing more with the United Nations and other countries in promoting an updating of existing space treaties!  Federal departments, such as Commerce, Labor, Transportation, and Treasury should be simplifying rules and regulations to foster private space enterprise. The Department of Energy, for instance, should be facilitating research into space-based energy, The National Laboratories and the National Academy of Science should be devoting more research to space needs and challenages for human beings. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration needs organizational renewal so as to reduce its field centers’ overhead so that more of its funding can be devoted to promotion of exploration and private space enterprise. The NASA television channel and many of its publications could do much more to get public support for their space missions and technological spinoffs.

 

1. 5.       Convoking a 2012 White House Conference on Space Enterprise

 

Traditionally, the Administration has used the WHC strategy to focus national attention on a U.S. problem or challenge. Therefore, in 2011, President Obama should call for a White House Conference on Space Enterprise as a means for promoting jobs, education, science, and technology, as well as space industrialization and settlement. A Commission should be appointed to plan for this event, including invitations to delegates who are knowledgeable professionals and entrepreneurs in the fields of aerospace and finance. My proposal is that three Apollo astronauts be invited to serve as honorary co-chairmen (e.g., Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Harrison Schmitt), while the three operating chairpersons would be from private enterprise and academia (e.g. Professor A. A. Harrison, Elon Musk, and Burt Rutan). The goal would be to hold this event in Washington, D. C, within two years of the conference announcement. All space organizations and media would also be invited to send observers.  Once the WHC has made its report and recommendations, then it is up the Administration, Congress, and NASA to implement them so as to revive our economy and retain our world space leadership!

 

 It should be noted that many of the ideas in this “white paper” originated from a NASA Summer Study at the California Space Institute where the author was a Faculty Fellow. The four volumes of proceedings were published under the title, Space Resources by the U. S. Printing Office (NASA SP-509, 1992; now available from www.univelt.com). More specifically, the scholars and experts gathered there endorsed this recommendation for a White House Conference on Space Enterprise in volume 4, Social Concerns

 

 

Breakthrough  Thinking  &  Acceleration  to  Excellence

By  Bob  Krone,  Ph.D.

Provost,  Kepler   Space   University

 

A  paper  written  for  the  10^th  Annual  ASHRM  International  Conference  &  Exhibition  Session  titled  “Performance  evaluation  – do  we  evaluate  the  person  or  the process?”   Bahrain,  29 –  31  March  2010.

 

ABSTRACT

 

            People  achieve goals through  process.  Exponential  increases  of  many  societal  changes  in  the  world  over  the  past  three  decades  are  requiring  paradigm  shifts  in  creative  thinking  and  faster moves  to  constructive  actions.  But  those  requirements  are not  being  met  satisfactorily.  For decades  the gap  between  serious  problems  and   leadership  qualified  to  solve those  problems has continued  to  grow.  Resulting   destructive  organizational,   societal  and   environmental  events  have  had local  to  global  effect.    Impacts  vary  from  costly  to catastrophic.  If  correction  is  to occur  major  transformations  must occur  in  some  areas.

 

            This  paper  provides  ways  to  simultaneously  streamline  process  and  motivate  people  to  accelerate  to  excellence.  The  sources  flow  from  the  spectrum  of  physical,  social, quality  and  space  sciences  plus  leadership  theory.   The  Kepler  Space  University (KSU)  is  presented  as  an illustrative example of  both  breakthrough  thinking  and  acceleration to excellence.  A   General  Normative  Model  is  provided   for  leadership  of  any organization to  include  in  its  decision  making  for  the  evaluation  and  improvement  of    people  and  processes  to  facilitate   breakthrough   thinking  and   acceleration  to  excellence.

An  ASHRM  Research  Program  is  proposed  for  this  subject over  the  next  year  leading  up  to the  2011 Conference.    At  Kepler  Space  University  we  have  created  social  networking  sites   to  capture  and  share  your   breakthrough  human  resources  ideas  and  needs  for your  organization.  Those will  be  shared  with  you  as  they  develop  and  formally  presented  to   ASHRM  leadership  leading  up  to  the  2011  Conference.

 

Keywords:  Research   for  human  resources  stimulated  major  organizational  transformation.  Earth  Sciences,  Space  Sciences  and  Policy  Sciences.  Breakthrough  Thinking  Case  Study.    Education.  Futures.  Humanity’s improvements  and survival. 

 

I.   WHY  CHANGE?

 

It  does  not  require  breakthrough  thinking  on  today’s  problems,  in 2010,   to  reach  the  conclusion  that  solutions  to  global  societal  issues  are  increasingly   inadequate.  Evidence  is  abundant  that  Yehezkel  Dror’s  Law  #1,  published  in  1971,  that  reads:

“While  the  difficulties  and  dangers  of  problems  tend  to  increase  at  a  geometric  rate,  the  number  of  persons  qualified to  deal  with  these  problems  tends  to  increase  at  an arithmetric  rate.“  remains  dangerously  valid  forty  years  later.[1]   Our  present  is  much  different  from  the  past  and  the  future  is  bound  to be  exponentially  different than  the  present.  Science  and  technology  have  made  spectacular  advances  in  those forty  years.  Those  advances  are  responsible  for  significant improvement  in  the  quality  of   millions  of  lives.  I  believe  those  advances  have  also  played a role in preventing an even more acute global economic depression   with    catastrophic  outcomes  worse  than  experienced.  But  time  is  not  on  humanity’s  side  without reversal  of   many  trends.  And  those  same  science  and  technology  advances  have  involved  Mephistophelean  bargains  with  sinister  negative  potentials  for  Earth and  its inhabitants[2].  Major individual,  corporate,   and  governmental   transformations are  needed.  The  Arab  Society’s  Human  Resource  Management  (ASHRM) goals  focus  on  improving  “…the  number  of  people  qualified  to  deal  with  these  problems.”   And  this  paper  proposes  a  global  research  program  to  do  that  through  “Breakthrough   Thinking  and  Acceleration  to  Excellence.”

 

II.   IF  WE  FAIL

 

  Before  presenting  how  to  do  breakthrough   thinking  and  acceleration  to excellence  its

significance  needs  to  be  emphasized.  Human  extinction  probabilities  dramatically  increased  in  the  20th  Century.  Without  corrective  actions  in  the  21^st  Century  those  probabilities  will  continue  to  increase.  An  “On  the  Beach”  scenario  remains  a  nuclear  winter  Phantom  of   the Opera.[3]   “Science and technology can do more to alleviate human suffering, such as hunger and homelessness, that impact millions of people today. Government’s   capacity  to  govern  remains  insufficient.  Wars  and  ethnic conflicts  have  not  stopped.  Weapons  remain  the  conflict  decision  makers  where  ideas  should  be  the  arbitrators.  The ratio between the haves and the have-nots continues to increase. Retaining  the  status  quo  rate  of  progress  is  a  slow  global  Pied  Piper to  a  future  our  descendents  will  curse  us  for  not  preventing.      

 

            History  does   not  provide  encouragement  that  needed  improvements  will  happen  autonomously.  The assumption  that  evolution  must  be  for  good  is  a  myth.  The  future  needs  to  altar its course so that Dror’s  Law  #1 no longer applies.   Solving  complex problems  requires  conversion  to   Ross  Ashby’s  Law  of Requisite  Variety  which  states  that  “Variety  absorbs  variety, defines  the minimum  number  of states  necessary  for  a controller  to control a  system of a given  number  of states.“.[4]    That  Law  worked  perfectly  for  the design  of  the  auto-pilot  on  my F-105D  Thunderchief  jet. Pilots  could  fly  close formation  while  in  auto-pilot  mode  because  the  system took  into account the variables and  responded  to  the needs.  The Human Resource  Management  problems  we  are addressing  have many  more variables than those encountered in flight,  but  the  Law  still  applies.  When  decision makers  ignore  a variable,  acceleration  to excellence  has  a  blockage.

 

            My  belief  is  that  failure  to  accelerate  to  excellence is not  an  option  for local,  national  or  international  entities.  It’s a necessity.  Failure  will  produce  dystopia(s).  The  costs  to  humanity  of  those  dystopias  will  exceed  history’s  devastations. We  have  a  moral  responsibility  to  each  other  and  to  humanity  to  capture  and  implement  breakthrough  thinking.  It  is  a  huge  challenge  that  has    more  political,  cultural  and  social  components  than    does science  and  technology.[5]  

 

III.   THE  KEPLER  SPACE  UNIVERSITY  CASE

 

This  paper  so  far  has  defined  the  need  for  paradigm  shift  thinking  and  actions.  The

discussion  has  focused   so  far  on  the    outcomes  of  inaction  or  failure.  But  our  world  is  blessed  with  brilliant  optimistic  dreamers,  analysts  and  thinkers  who  daily  design  better  futures.  The  goal  of  the  Kepler  Space  University  Research  Program,  begun  at  the  ASHRM  2010  Conference  in  Bahrain,  is  to  capture  the  experience  and  brainpower  of   those  innovative  thinkers  to  create  a  flood  of   transformative  concepts  and  designs  for  humanity’s  future.  Literature  of  the  Space  communities  and  organizations  is  one  prime example.  That  knowledge  operates from the conviction    that  the  Law  of  Space  Abundance[6]  is  valid.  But,  Earth  sciences  also  have  a   wealth  of  supporting  evidence  for  the  belief that  the  human  brain  is the  reason  humanity  has  not  suffered   the  fate  of  the  dinosaurs.  One  KSU  Program  is  “Defrosting  Frozen  Wisdom.”   Electronic  networking technology  and  Ideas  Unlimited[7]  are  the  drivers  of  that  program  which  will  merge  with  the  ASHRM  2010 – 2011  Research  Program. 

 

 

           Until   that  global  data  is   aggregated  and  employed I will share a personal example.    

 

         In  my  Foreword   to  Dr. Richard  Kirby’s  book  The  People’s  Astronomy, I  wrote:  “Dr. Richard S. Kirby  has  been  intellectually  orbiting   Earth  with  the  ideas in  this  book  since he  was  an  eleven-year  old scientist  in  England  in 1961.  On  1  January  2009,  Dr.  Kirby  activated  his de-orbit  rocket,  opened  the  Kepler  Space  University,  and  now  brings  to Earth The  People’s  Astronomy.”[8]  Richard  Kirby  had  more  original  new  ideas  daily  than  many  people  have  in a  lifetime.  And  his  inspirational  leadership  created  a  team  of  professionals  capable  of  putting  his  ideas  to  work.  With  no  resources  other  than  intellectual  brilliance  he  led  us  to  open  the  KSU  cyberspace  doors.   Actually    formal  planning  and  team  building for  the  university  began on  that  date.  The  team  of  professionals  who  did  that planning  were  for the most part   members  of  the  42  co-authors  who  created  Beyond  Earth: The Future  of Humans  in  Space, 2006.[9]

 

        Rich  Kirby  and  I  communicated  by  e-mail  and  phone  daily. Every  day  would  bring  new  ideas.  I  liked  them  all.   On  September  24^th  of  2009 he called  me  at  noon and  asked  me  to  record  his verbal  description of  his  “Theory  of  Acceleration.”  I  did.  At  5pm  that  day  Rich’s  close  colleague  in Edmonds,  Washington,  Al  Dolan,  called  me  with  the  sad  news  that  Richard  Kirby  had  died  at  3pm.   A  large  number  of  his  Team  travelled  to  Edmonds  to  pay  tribute  to  his  genius  and  inspirational  leadership  at  Services  on  4  October  2009.

 

 The    Breakthrough  Thinking   and   Theory   of    Acceleration ,   that  were  Dr,  Kirby’s

trademarks,  had  been  the  honey  and  the   glue  that  formed    the  Kepler  Team.  The  momentum  he  inspired  did  not  decrease  with  his  death.  By  1  January  2010  Bob  Frantz  had  assumed  the  Presidency,  our  Team  of  academic  and  space  professionals  had  designed  seven  schools  and  a  virtual  high  school,  we  formed a corporation registered  in California,  had  created  a  Think  Tank  to capture  the  wisdom  of  Vietnam  Prisoners  of  War,  and  scheduled  the  first  commencement  for  the  award  of  the  PhD  in Earth  and  Space  Sciences to Bob Frantz    for  May  2010  at  the  International  Space  Development  Conference  in  Chicago. 

 

      The  seven  schools  and  virtual  high schools  created  are depicted  in  Figure  1,  following.  Courses  are   100%  online  accessible  from  any  spot  on  Earth.   KSU  in  a  year’s  time  became  a  reality.  And  no one  was paid  a  salary   nor  are  there  any   bricks  and mortar  overhead  expenses.  KSU,  and  its  Professors,  are  paid  a  percentage  of   enrolled  student  tuition.  As  Dr. Terry  Tang,  KSU  Professor  of  Psychology  and  Director  of  Research,   wrote  in  a  5 March  2010 e-mail:   “This example of the power of   ideas and good leadership is not dependent upon financial resources because we are motivated by pro bono values, fun, intellectual curiosity and a poet’s vision, Peace on Earth Through Space.  Our work is empirical and transparent for all to see and will be tested by who does what by when.”   Pro  Bono  is  the legal  term  for  volunteering  legal  services  when  there  is a potential  for payments  later.  In  our  case  there  are   immediate  rewards  of  our  volunteering  of  time  and  talents.  The satisfaction  of  working  with  talented  people  toward  noble  goals  is  often  its  own  reward.  There  is  also  a  higher  probability  of  spin-off  material  rewards  from   that  collaborative  creativity than  from  traditional  business  plans.

 

 

Figure  1.  KSU  Academic  Components.

 

 

IV.   A  NORMATIVE  UNIVERSAL  MODEL

 

       The  prescriptive  model  on  which  to  base  the  theory  and  to  design  applications  is based  on  the  following definitions  of  “Breakthrough  Thinking”  and  “Acceleration  to  Excellence”:

 

• BREAKTHROUGH  THINKING =  Visioning  of  a  desired  difficult  achievement.  Assume   initially    that   there  are  no  barriers.  Involve  cross cultural  and  cross disciplinary  people.  Keep  all  ideas  – no matter  how  “crazy”.  Tolerate  ambiguity. Use  a  systems, or  full spectrum,   approach    and  ask    “What  are  all  the  involved  qualitative  and  quantitative  variables?     Capture  both   explicit  knowledge (from learning)  and  tacit  knowledge  (from living).     Define  preferred  future   values.[10]

 

•  ACCELERATION   TO  EXCELLENCE  =   Insure  the  goal  or  task  lies  within your    well  defined  values  system.  Start   it  before  breakfast  tomorrow.  Collaborate  for rapid  decisions.   Delegate  to  qualified  people.  Continual  communications  on  progress  to    revise  needed  tactics.  Substitute  thinking  of  alternatives  to  bypass  moves  that  may  stall  progress.[11]   

 

The   prescriptions  of  the  “Breakthrough  Thinking  and  Acceleration  to  Excellence  Model”  were  created  for  the  10^th  Annual  ASHRM  2010  Conference  in Bahrain.  Future  collaboration  and  networking   during  the  Research  Program    will  result  in  editing  of  the   theory  and  the  documentation  of    real-world  global  applications.  The  ten  draft  prescriptions  are  shown  in  Figure  2,  with brief  descriptions  and  justifications  following.  A  task  of   the  ASHRM  Research  Project  will  be  to  edit  the model  to  meet  the  criteria  of : 1)  Do  the  components  create a   valid  systems approach? ;    2)  What  editing  is  needed   for  specific  applications?;  and,  3) What  research  questions  should  be selected  for  investigation?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                             

 

 

 

                 

 

 

 

Figure  2.  Prescriptions  for  the  “Breakthrough  Thinking  and 

                  Acceleration  to  Excellence   Universal   Model.

 

Now  for how   to  achieve   Breakthrough  Thinking   and   Acceleration  to  Excellence.

The  following  ten  prescriptions  are  considered  by   the  Kepler  Space  University  Team  as  necessary   and  sufficient.  They  are  listed  by  priority  but  should  be  created  simultaneously.

 

1)      Moral,  Ethical  and  Inspirational  Leadership.   Without  doubt  this  is  the  most  important need.  Without  inspirational   leadership  motivation cannot  be  sustained.  But  it,  too,  will  fail  if  moral  and ethical  leadership  is  missing.  History,  and  today’s  news,  are  filled  with  stories  of  career  and  organizational  destruction  because  of  immoral  or unethical  behavior.[12]

 

2)      Noble  Goals.  Visions  and  Values.  Purpose  drives  actions.  Individuals  and  organizations  can  only  be  successful  if  their  strategic  ends  are  recognized  good  by  all  constituents  and  their  values  propel  means  for  their  actions  and  desires  consistent  with  a  philosophy  all  team members  support. 

 

3)      A  Streamlined  Decision  Making  System.  For  forty  years  I  have  taught  Systems  Theory  and  Management  at  the doctoral  and  masters levels.  For  each  class  of  professionals  I asked:  “What are  the  three  most  difficult  problems  in  your  organization?”  With  rare  exceptions  the  two  top  problems  were:  Decision  Making  Systems  and  Communications.   That  is  true  for  public,    private ,  non-profit, national  or  international  entities.  There  are  valid reasons  why  those  two  are  very  difficult;  but  for  breakthrough  advances  you  must  streamline  your  decision  system so  it  pulls  people  along,  not  acts  as  a  barrier.

 

 

4)    A  Quality  Legal  Foundation.   The  newest  faculty  member  of  KSU  is  Dr. David  Schrunk.  His  professional  qualifications  are  unique.  He  is  a medical  doctor,  an aerospace  engineer,  Space  author  and  a  quality  scientist  who  has  compared  Quality  Sciences  applications  in  health  care  and  aerospace  with  those  in  Law.  His  finding  is that  law  develops  through  political  feasibility  and  precedent  and  has  no  bases  in  Quality  Sciences  nor  is  it  systematically  solving  social  problems.  These  are  profound  findings.  KSU  is  supporting  his  teaching,  research  and  applications  to  the real  world.[13]  His  findings  are  consistent  with  those  Policy  Scientists  whose  research  has  shown  that  the  capacity  to  govern  universally  is  not  keeping  up  with  global  needs.[14]

 

5)    Redundant  Communications.   Communications  technology  is  creating  revolutions  world  wide.  Accelerating  to excellence  in  your organization  after  breakthrough  thinking,  and  to invent  that  thinking,  will  require  full  employment  of  electronic  and personal  communications.

 

6)      Capture  Global Tacit  Knowledge  and  Brainpower.  Tacit  Knowledge —  i.e. knowledge  people  have  from living–  as opposed  to  Explicit  Knowledge  that  people  get  from  learning,  has  been  researched  since  the  1950s[15].  It’s profound influence  on  decision  making  and  performance  has  yet  to be  fully  investigated. The  ASHRM – KSU  Research  Project  will  combine  the   identification  of  Tacit  Knowledge  along  with    “Defrosting  the  Frozen  Wisdom”   and  capturing  global  brainpower.[16] 

 

7)    Defrost  Frozen  Wisdom.  A  KSU  Program  facilitated  by  current  information  system  technology  designed   to  capture  and  document  for  research  and  applications  the  breakthrough  thinking  throughout  history   and   of   today’s  seniors.

 

8)      Cross-Cultural  Learning.  This  is  a requirement  already  being  exploited  by  ASHRM  leadership  and  members. 

Continual  Evaluation  and  Improvem

---

[1] Yehezkel  Dror  is  the  Founder   and  leading  scholar  of  The  Policy  Sciences.  His  fifty  years  of   research  and  publications  have  created  a  world-class  intellectual  legacy.  For  his  Dror’s  Law  #2  see  his  Ventures  in  Policy,  1971,  New  York, American Elsevier.   

[2]  In  the  famous  German  story  “Dr. Faustus,”  written  by  Christopher  Marlowe  in  1592, Dr.  Faustus  sold  his eternal  soul  to  Mephistopheles,  the  Devil,  for  worldly  gains.  History  is  filled  with  tragedies  fitting  the metaphor.  For some  examples  see  Robert  M.  Krone,  Ph.D.  Essays  for  Systems  Managers,  Chapter  10, Mephistophelean  Bargains,”  pp  41-43.

[3] “On  the  Beach”  was  a  1958  film,  directed  by  Stan Kramer  describing   human  extinction  progessing  over  the  Earth   from  nuclear  bomb  radiation.

[4] This  law  was  published  in  William  Ross  Ashby’s  1952  Design  for  a  Brain, Chapman  &  Hall.  His  applications  began  with  cybernetic  and  complex  engineering  systems,  but  it  also  is  relevant  universally  to  solving  complex  social,   political   and  organizational  problems.

[5] See  Robert  M. Krone “Science  and  Technology  for  What?”,  2005,  Research  Policy  Review,  Vol  22  Number  4 (July  2005)..pp  555-570.

[6]  KSU  leadership  created  The  Law  of  Space  Abundance  from  fifty  years  of  literature  and  research  providing evidence  of  “Space  Offers  Unbounded  Resources  for  Humanity’s  Needs.”

[7] See  Dr. Bob  and  Sue  Krone,  Capturing  Global  Brainpower,  2007,  Infinity  Press.

[8] Richard   Kirby, Ph.D.  The  People’s  Astronomy,  2010,  forthcoming.

[9][9] It  was  the publication  of  Bob  Krone,  PhD, Editor,  Beyond  Earth: The Future  of  Humans  in  Space,  2006,  Apogee  Space  Press,  that  was  the  final  trigger  that  convinced   us  to launch  the  University.  Universe  Today  listed  that  book  as  one  of the three  best  Space  books  in  2006.

[10] I  had  the  advantage  of  sharing   professorship  time  at  the  University  of Southern  California (USC)  with  Dr. Gerald  Nadler, President  of  the Center  for  Breakthrough  Thinking  and  Dr.  Warren  Bennis,  internationally  known  organizational  leadership  and  development  scholar.  Search   Google for  their  massive  legacies.  KSU  has  also  benefitted  from its  association  with  Dr.  Sidney  Parnes,   co-founder of the International Center for Studies in Creativity.and  a lifetime trustee of the Creative Education Foundation (CEF).  His  legacy  for  creative  problem  solving  is  unmatched.  The  search  for  ways  to  achieve common  values consensus  is  a  critically  important  component.

[11] On  17  October 2009  I  presented  an  “Acceleration  to  Excellence”  brief  to  the  leadership  of  the American Society  for  Quality (ASQ)  recommending  that  it  become  an  ASQ  Strategy  and  Learning  Subject.

 

[12]The  KSU  Faculty  Member most  qualified  on  this subject  is  Pastor  (Dr.)  Lawrence  Downing.  He  has  been  researching,  Teaching  and  writing  on  Moral  Leadership  for forty  years.  And  he  is  a  role  model  himself  for  all  he teaches.  My  life  has  been  enriched  by  learning  from  him.

[13] Registration  for  Dr. Schrunk’s  Course  is  now  open  at  www.keplerspaceuniversity.org.

[14] The  primary  scholar providing  evidence  of  this  finding  is Yehezkel  Dror.  See  his  classic  The  Capacity  to  Govern,    1994,  London,  Frank Cass.

[15][15] Search  Google,  but  start  with  the  life  works  of Michael Polyani  who  created  the  term.

[16]  Sr.  Bob  and  Sue  Krone,  2007, Ideas  Unlimited:  Capturing  Global  Brainpower,  Infinity  Press.

Let’s think about “True lies:  delusions and lie-detection technology” by D. D. Langleben, F. M. Dattilio & T. G. Guthel, The Journal of Psychiatry & Law34/Fall 2006, 351-370,  which stated, “Despite controversial validity, inadmissibility as legal evidence and the ban in non-government pre-employment screening, poly graph and its variants remain the only common psychophysiological methods of lie detection” p 356).  These technologies and methods are basically the same as those used in the 1960s.  Let’s consider inventing new technologies, transducers and detection procedures based upon increased understanding of psychophysiological homeostasis and brain and body activities during delusional and non-delusional states.

Deviations from and compliance with norms are used for identifying whether the thoughts expressed are more or less delusional or creative.  One’s thoughts are affected by sensory (perception is the interpretation of sensation) and physical (chemical, electrical, hormonal, etc.) influences.  One’s thoughts can become more knowable to others by knowing the thinker’s biology better.

 

Several astronauts returning from space were alleged to be delusional.  In 2007 Lisa Norwak was charged with stalking and Story Musgrave spoke about extraterrestrials.  Edgar Mitchell stated his belief in UFOs in 1971.  American Journal of Psychiatry published concerns about mental illness in space in 1959, “Symposium on Space Psychiatry.”    

 

Delusions are false, persistent beliefs that are unsubstantiated by sensory or objective evidence.  Non-bizarre delusions may become examples of creative thinking when solutions to problems are consequences.  Creativity is the ability to generate novel solutions to problems.  It is a trait characterized by originality, ingenuity and flexibility and is essential for innovation and space development. 

 

The consequence of the thought defines whether it is delusional or creative.  This is post hoc semantics.  Knowing flexibility in thinking is proposed for preventing, detecting, identifying and treating delusions.  Cognitive flexibility is also proposed for increasing creativity.  Flexibility, if too much, can become a distraction.  Sustained effort toward an objective requires stability, direction and consensual coordination for teamwork.  No single person or small group, however inspired, can be allowed to inflict possible damage through indirection.  Team members with prescriptive contracts clarifying freedom rights, work requirements and norms can proactively modulate flexibility for sustaining directional efforts and avoiding delusions and other distractions. 

 

Norms for consideration are 1) statistical, 2) mission-defined, behaviors agreed to and expected from all members of the mission, 3) operational norms, those defined empirically, 4) cultural (socially appropriate-inappropriate), subgroup, situational, 5) medical, International Classification of Disease, 12^th Ed., Clinical Manual or Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4^th Ed., Text Revision, 2000, next edition in 2012, 6) forensic norms, those which have been adjudicated.  When noncompliance with contractual norms occurs, administrative intervention and controls are warranted. 

 

Deviations from and compliance with norms are used for identifying whether the thoughts expressed are more or less delusional or creative.  One’s thoughts are affected by sensory (perception is the interpretation of sensation) and physical

(chemical, electrical, hormonal, etc.) influences.  Thoughts are knowable to the thinker or by others only through the thinker’s biology and or behavior.  By providing feedback information on these to the thinker, one can modify her or his thinking and behaving.  Risk vs. Benefit Analyses of behaviors in terms of dangerousness to persons or property can be used for providing guidance.

_______________________________________________________________________________

*Presented at the Space, Propulsion & Energy Sciences International Forum February 23-29, 2010, Institute for Advanced Studies in the Space, Propulsion & Energy Sciences, Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, Maryland 20723-6099 

Tang, 2

By establishing Within Subject Operational Response Norms from 1.  electric sensory stimuli eliciting Physiological Orientation Responses within electro-dermal, blood flow and respiratory systems and from 2.  cognitive perceptual stimuli, i.e., auditory or visual semantic stimuli, eliciting behavioral, i.e., stimuli association verbalization, voice frequency parameters, hand-arm movements, pupiliary and facial changes, these Response Norm Baselines can be compared with subsequent responses to presentations of similar sensory and perceptual stimuli.

Before establishing Operational Response Norms, knowing nerve health status with evoke potentials testing, i.e., refer to The Very Basics In Evoked Potentials Testing Study Guide, Kennewick, WA:  Cadwell Laboratories, Inc., 1989, is recommended.

When a physical stimulus is followed by a lesser diversity of responses within two seconds, there is a greater probability it is a sensory stimulus, a physical agent causing physiological changes at a sense receptor or organ.

 

When a physical stimulus is followed by a sensory stimulus and as time from physical stimulus offset continues, probability of sensory stimulus becoming a perceptual stimulus increases as response diversity increases because perception is the interpretation of sensation.      

Once homeostatic response norm baselines are established, subsequent testing for deviations from homeostasis can be accomplished within twenty minutes.  Detection of deviation would warrant additional assessment, inquiry, and Mental Status Examination.    

Recent references relating psychophysiological parameters to mental disorders are Elsevier:  ‘Abnormal visual scan paths:  a psychophysiological marker of delusions in schizophrenia,” Schizophrenia Research, 2009, 29, 3, 235-245; C. Papageorgiou, E. Ventouras, L. Lykouras, N. Uzunoglu & GN. Christodoulou, “Psychophysiological evidence for altered information processin in delusional misidentification syndromes,” Progress in Neuro-psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 2003, May; 27, 3, 365-72;  J. T. Cacioppo, L. G. Tassinary, G. G. Berntson (Eds.), Hnadbook of Psychophysiology.  London:  Cambridge Univ. Press, 2000. Operational procedures used in these studies typically require more than one hour and are not employed for the detection of delusions.    

Hypothesis 1a:  Within subject variability in physical response to Capacitor Discharge Electric stimuli is less than variability in physical response to Alternating Current Electric stimuli which is less than variability in physical response to Direct Current Electric stimuli. 

Hypothesis 1b:  With Alternating Current the longer the wavelength the greater the physical response variability.   

Hypothesis 2:  As inter-stimulus-interval increases from 12 to 20 to 30 seconds, variability in physical response to electric stimuli increases.

Hypothesis 3:  As duration of electric stimuli increases from 0.3 to 3.0 seconds, variability in physical response to electric stimuli increases.

Hypothesis 4:  Physical response variability to Neutral Words paired with electric stimuli is less than physical response to Delusion-Associated Words paired with electric shock.  Delusion-Associated Words are those with connotations of grandiosity, megalomania, omnipotence, special relationship with famous person or deity, persecution, alien control, special identity, preoccupations, self-depreciation, guilt, obsessions, religious etc., see P. 145, The Clinician’s Thesaurus 3, E. L. Zuckerman, Pittsburg, PA:  The Clinician’s Toolbox, 1993.

Within subject non-normative responses to electric and semantic stimuli and compliance with norms are used for identifying whether cognition is more or less delusional or creative.  One’s thoughts are affected by sensory and physical (chemical, electrical, hormonal, etc.) influences.  One’s non-verbalized thoughts can become more knowable to others by studying the thinker’s psychophysiological responses to semantic and other cognitive stimuli, i.e., tunes, picture icons, symbols.

As state earlier, consequence of the thought defines whether it is delusional or creative.  Having a statement of agreed upon expectation of who does what by when and not complying with the statement may be used as an indicator of delusional thoughts whereas fulfilling the statement may indicate creative ability.  Recordings of psychophysiological and semantic responses made close

Tang, 3

in time to targeted verbalizations being assessed when compared with baseline data can are used for detecting delusional cognition.    

 

Severe delusions may be called delirium, a condition characterized by swearing, restlessness, disorientation, and hallucination, a sensory experience in the absence of sensory stimulation that is confused with reality.  Paranoia is a psychotic disorder in which a person shows a persistent delusional system but not the confusion of a paranoid schizophrenic. 

 

Paranoid Personality Disorder is characterized by persistent suspiciousness but not the disorganization of paranoid schizophrenia, a subtype of schizophrenia characterized primarily by delusions–commonly of persecution—and by vivid hallucinations. 

 

This psychotic mental disorder is diagnosed when prominent nonbizarre delusions are present for at least one month and the symptom criteria for Schizophrenia have never been met. Hallucinations may be present, but auditory or visual hallucinations cannot be prominent. Olfactory or tactile hallucinations may be prominent, but only if they are related to the content of the delusion. Psychosocial functioning may not be impaired and any co-occurring mood episodes must be of relatively brief duration.

 

 

 

 

Diagnostic criteria for 297.1 Delusional Disorder (cautionary statement)   A. Nonbizarre delusions (i.e., involving situations that occur in real life, such as being followed, poisoned, infected, loved at a distance, or deceived by spouse or lover, or having a disease) of at least 1 month’s duration.  B. Criterion A for Schizophrenia has never been met. Note: Tactile and olfactory hallucinations may be present in Delusional Disorder if they are related to the delusional theme.  C. Apart from the impact of the delusion(s) or its ramifications, functioning is not markedly impaired and behavior is not obviously odd or bizarre.  D. If mood episodes have occurred concurrently with delusions, their total duration has been brief relative to the duration of the delusional periods.  E. The disturbance is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication) or a general medical condition.  Specify type (the following types are assigned based on the predominant delusional theme):  Erotomanic Type: delusions that another person, usually of higher status, is in love with the individual  Grandiose Type: delusions of inflated worth, power, knowledge, identity, or special relationship to a deity or famous person  Jealous Type: delusions that the individual’s sexual partner is unfaithful  Persecutory Type: delusions that the person (or someone to whom the person is close) is being malevolently treated in some way  Somatic Type: delusions that the person has some physical defect or general medical condition  Mixed Type: delusions characteristic of more than one of the above types but no one theme predominates  Unspecified Type Reprinted with permission from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision.  Copyright 2000 American Psychiatric Association.  (A new edition, DSM V, is to be published in 2013)

certain kinds of conditions where the interpretation of being threatened is more accurate.” 

 

 

 

Tang, 4

Researchers in the field of human functional brain mapping using positron emission tomography (PET), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to indirectly detect neural activity simultaneously occurring in various regions of the brain through metabolic and blood-oxygenation measures are sharing their efforts in identifying function- structure relationships for the purpose of developing a probabilistic functional atlas at www.brainmap.org.  A reference of such work is, ‘Modeling Dynamic Functional Neuroimaging Data Using Structural Equation Modeling’ by L. R. Price, A. R. Laird, P. T. Fox and R. J. Ingham, Structural Equation Modeling, 16:147-162, 2009.  A brain site for delusion has not been identified but probable sites for other mental states have been identified, i.e., B. Knutson and J. C. Cooper, “Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Reward Prediction,” Current Opinions in Neurology, 2005, 18, 4, 411-17.

 

Delusions are irrational beliefs held with conviction.  Non-bizarre delusions are considered to be plausible; there is a

 possibility that what the person believes could be real a small proportion of the time.  Bizarre delusions focus on that which is impossible in reality.  Also, for beliefs to be considered delusional, the content or themes of the beliefs must be uncommon in the person’s culture or religion. 

 

The person with delusional disorder may or may not come to the attention of others.  While the person with delusional disorder may be distressed because of it, she or he may not understand that anything is wrong with her or his thinking.  One may attribute obstacles or problems in functioning to the delusional rather than to the veridical, separating them from their control.  Unless the form of the delusion affects others who react to it significantly, the person with delusions may adapt sufficiently well to live without other’s interference.  When persons with delusions seek medical or mental health care, the motivation is usually to decrease feelings of dissatisfaction and negative emotions such as depression, worry, fears, irritability or insomnia.                          

 

Delusions are usually absent when physically and mentally healthy persons with specific skills and abilities become part of a working team although a predisposition may exist.  Emergence of delusions may be regarded as dysfunctional cognitive processing.  Antecedents to this dysfunction may be an underlying predisposition, a too severe of a stressor, ambiguity or stimuli misperceived.  Interpersonal cognitive problems may involve the manner in which a person develops conclusions about another person and or about causation of unusual perceptions or negative events.  Perception may be selective and biased towards supporting preexisting theories and ideas so erroneous conclusions made are deemed valid.

 

Currently, clinical and forensic testing for dysfunctional cognitive processing should require a minimum of two hours per session with privacy, cooperation and a comfortable setting using standardized procedures.  Three tests frequently used for obtaining baseline personality characteristics or antecedent values prior to delusional episode are the MMPI Personality Profiles, California Personality Inventory (CPI), and MCMI-III.  After a suspected delusional episode has occurred or is present, these tests can again be given for identifying test value changes, if any, have occurred.  In this manner psychometric parameters of cognition may be established.

 

Obtaining two hours of cooperation may be impossible.  Perhaps 20 minutes cooperation for obtaining psychophysiological data for comparing with prerecorded biometric, behavioral and semantic baselines will enable a higher probability of successfully detecting  delusions.  

 

The MMPI uses an empirical keying approach by asking questions with answers endorsed by persons with known diagnoses of certain pathologies for constructing profile scales.  It also has scales designed for detecting attempts to present oneself favorably, for detecting ‘faking good or bad,’ for being defensive, for being statistically valid, for inconsistent responding, and for attentiveness.

 

The CPI is non-clinical.  It consists of inventory test items evaluating interpersonal behavior and social interaction in normal individuals.  The CPI provides measurements of ‘common folk’ scales of character along the lines of Weberian prototypical exemplars. 

 

MCMI-III clinical norms are constructed from persons with a wide variety of diagnoses seen in independent practices, clinics, forensic and correctional settings, mental health centers, hospitals, etc.  References to Delusional Disorder are on pages 24, 84 and 183 in its 4^th Edition manual (2009).  It relates the norms to Axis I and II of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4^th Ed., Text Revision, 2000.    

 

Mental Status Examination is a generic method of gathering information throughout the patient encounter organizing

observations in a format for the clinical record.  Areas addressed usually include 1) Attitude, appearance & motor activity, 2)

Mood & affect, 3) Structure of thought & speech, 4) Content of thought & speech, 5) Perception, 6) Sensorium & cognition, 7) Potential for destructiveness, 8) Insight & motivation.

 

Tang, 5

 

Forensic dissatisfaction with information obtained from psychometric tests and mental status examinations led the American Bar Association to advocate in 1995 Mental Disability Law, A Primer (5^th Ed.) using functional analyses for understanding behavior.  A functional analysis is a systematic study of behavior in which one identifies the stimuli that

triggers it (antecedent) and the reinforcers that maintain it (consequence).                                                                                                                                                              

 

The ABC-Model regards behavior as connecting antecedents to consequences.  By relating Antecedents to Behavior to Consequences, researchers can hypothesize cause and effect relationships by identifying, changing or controlling antecedents and then assessing or evaluating behavioral consequences. Antecedents are events and conditions that occur prior to the targeted behavior being analyzed.  They are not necessarily the cause of the behavior.  Antecedents are external in the

environment or internal within the person performing the behavior.  Environmental antecedents may be termed setting events.  Internal antecedents may be termed precursors.  Stimuli present just prior to the onset of the targeted behavior may be called triggers.  Analyzing the antecedents to delusional behaviors and consequences increases understanding why delusions occur and provides a chain of forensic evidence linked to cognition.    

 

During employment contract orientation, baseline homeostatic profiles of behavioral and biological responses to stimuli can be developed.  The stimuli can be visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, semantic or verbal and various forms, intensities and durations of electric shock.  Responses recorded can be heart and respiration rate, brain site activity, galvanic skin response (GSR); facial and hand tremors; semantic verbalizations; voice stress indicators; pupil dilation, blood flow, ‘vagal tone’  (vagus nerve and respiration activity indicating friendly optimism, etc., D. Keltner, Born to be Good.  New York:  W. W. Norton & Co., 2009, p. 241).      

 

During and after employment such profiles can be obtained periodically for monitoring employee’s behavioral, biological and cognitive states.  If a subsequent profile is significantly different from the preceding profile, possible causes for the difference can be investigated.  With compliance with minimal operational procedures, profile monitoring sessions can be completed within twenty minutes. 

 

Depending on the intensity, the stimulus can evoke a gradient of autonomic responses from a mild one that recovers and habituates quickly to repeated stimulation. As the stimulus presented increases in intensity or cognitive importance, the autonomic responses evoked are orienting responses requiring several to fewer than a dozen seconds to recover and many repeated stimulations before habituating. 

 

When stimulus intensity is more intense, evoked autonomic responses are ‘startle responses’ requiring longer recovery and habituation periods.  If the stimulus is aversive or noxious, autonomic ‘defensive’ responses are evoked and the Sympathetic Nervous System becomes primed to flee or fight. 

 

Visual and auditory stimuli can be words paired with noxious stimuli so that both Classical and Instrumental Conditioning and semantic generalization occur.  Stimulus presentation can be three to thirty seconds per stimulus and dependent psychophysiological and behavioral responses continuously monitored with biological transducers and video.  

 

By knowing baseline autonomic and cognitive indices of semantic conditioning and generalization and observing for subsequent changes, inferences about cognition and cognitive processing of stimulus input can be made (T. Tang, “Autonomic and Cognitive Indices of Semantic Conditioning and Generalization,” a dissertation presented to the University of Southern California, 1972).  Perception, the interpretation of sensations, can be functionally evaluated as being veridical or delusional.                                                                                                                                  

 

Independent stimulus presentation with ongoing monitoring of dependent behavioral and psychophysiological responses can also occur with olfactory stimuli or scents affecting chemical communication processing by sensory neurons in olfactory bulbs and vomeronasal organs.  Research knowledge of these processes is not as thorough as that known in the visual, auditory and tactile information processing systems. 

 

All sensory input processes are part of the Sympathetic Nervous System.  All stimuli above threshold affect the body but may or may not affect cognition.  How such stimuli are processed may or may not result in a delusion.  Physiological correlates and substrates of cognition change when stimuli are interpreted during perception and thinking. 

 

Dysfunctional cognitive processing that result in delusion may be due to impairments in psychoneurophysiological interpersonal interactions.  Until biotechnological psychophysiological research advances more to distinguish between the         veridical and the delusional, periodic and post-mission or post-task debriefings with Mental Status Examination can be employed for ensuring fitness for employment and team work.

 

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Mental Status Examination Screenings

Yale Medical School’s PRIME (Prevention through Risk Identification, Management & Education) Research Clinic

 Mental and emotional problems are similar to other medical illnesses. If left untreated, they are likelyto get worse over time. The PRIME Research Clinic is dedicated to the early identification and treatment of serious mental and emotional problems. 

RISK FACTORS

• Trouble at school or work
• Difficulty concentrating or thinking clearly
• Suspiciousness or mistrust of others
• Changes in the way things look or sound
• Odd thinking or behavior
• Withdrawal from friends and family
• Poor personal hygiene
• ______________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

 

Am J Psychiatry 159:863-865, May 2002, American Psychiatric Association

 

 

 

 

§  Prospective Diagnosis of the Initial Prodrome for Schizophrenia Based on the Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes: Preliminary Evidence of Interrater Reliability and Predictive Validity

• Tandy J. Miller, Ph.D., Thomas H. McGlashan, M.D., Joanna Lifshey Rosen, Psy.D., Lubna Somjee, Ph.D., Philip J. Markovich, B.A., Kelly Stein, Ph.D., and Scott W. Woods, M.D.
  • The Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes is a semistructured diagnostic interview including five components: the 19-item Scale of Prodromal Symptoms (4), a version of the Global Assessment of Functioning with well-defined anchor points, a DSM-IV schizotypal personality disorder checklist, a family history of mental illness, and a checklist for the Criteria of Prodromal Syndromes. The Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes is designed for use by experienced clinicians who have undergone specific training.                                                              __________________________________________________________________________        
  • NORMAL REACTIONS ON DIFFICULTIES IN LIFE
    There are many types of behavior that really is normal, although it can be perceived as the opposite of friends, family and teachers. We are different and can have different reactions to difficult periods in life. A person can be:
  • raunchy – thoughtless – lazy – egotistical – rash – irritable – rebellious – shy – withdrawn – hypersensitive – takes easily to tears
  • These ways to behave can occur as normal and short-term reactions to stressful events or problems such as:
  • Violation of a close relationship – fail the exam – death to one who was a close – family crises – relocation – physical disease and other types of crisis

Early signs

A person may become:

• Suspicious
• Depressed
• Anxious
• Tense
• Irritable
• Angry
• A person may feel:  their thoughts have speed up or slowed down
•                                 things are somehow different
•                                 things around them seem changed
• A person may experience:  mood swings
•                                            sleep disturbance
•                                            appetite changes
•                                            loss of energy or motivation

                                                                 difficulty in concentrating or remembering things

Family and friends may notice when:

• a person’s behaviour changes
• a person’s studies or work deteriorates
• a person becomes more withdrawn or isolated
• a person is no longer interested in socialising
• a person becomes less active

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Special Feature for NATIONAL SPACE SOCIETY’S  AD ASTRA  MAGAZINE (11/20/09)

 

REDUCE THE NATIONAL DEFICIT

BY UTILIZING SPACE RESOURCES 

 

– NSS CONVEYS A CASE FOR INVESTMENT TO PUBLIC

 

       Philip Robert Harris, Ph. D.*

 

    Americans today have many serious economic concerns. The public, like members of government, seemingly are fixated on a $12 plus trillion national debt that originated with the last Presidential administration. It is a debt that daily grows alarmingly when interest is added!  In this serious financial recession, the attention of most citizens is not on outer space and its development. And yet there is a case for the National Space Society and other space advocates to make to the White House and United States Congress in support of space enterprise. Possibly, the only hope we have for reducing the national deficit is by immediately utilizing space resources.

 

     NSS members have to make a case for space investment that convinces taxpayers there is wealth offworld to be obtained. The profitable satellite industry has already proven the case for greater funding of our  national policy, A Vision of Space Exploration. Soon space tourism will be making profits.  Now is the time to enlighten our country;s men and women on the vast resources to be tapped on the Moon. We could not only mine the lunar surface for valuable minerals and gems, but we could use it water and regolith to support luna industrialization and settlement!  Instead of following the conclusions of the myopic “we-can’t-afford it” report by the Augustine Committee, NSS needs to get the message across to President Obama and NASA Administrator Bolden that we should start now getting ROI on the Apollo of four decades ago.  One way to start is for private and public enterprise to form a Global Lunar Infrastructure Development Corporation, as now proposed by Drs. Buzz Aldrin and Tom Matula.

 

     The global space community has an obligation to show our fellow citizens  that by moving beyond Earth, we can preserve our planet and keep it a green paradise.  Gradually, all of the mining that despoils our home planet can be transferred to the isolation of the Moon, including atomic and fusion energy. Instead of using fossil fuels that pollute our environment, there is also endless, clean space-based energy to use, such as through a Lunar Solar Power System. We need the vision of a Krafft Ehricke on the extraterrestrial imperative – he  had open mindset about making the most of solar system opportunities!

 

TRANSFORMING  SPACE  VISIONS  INTO  REALITIES

 

    Human dreams and ideas span time, often taking centuries before being transformed into worthwhile activities. Some of our forebears dimly perceived the spectacular achievements which this generation has witnessed since the dawn of the Space Age. But so few are aware of humanity’s challenges ahead in exploring and settling offworld! Ultimately, that process will lead to a higher state of consciousness for our species, as well as a new designation for humanity – spacekind. Only then will our species truly achieve its potential.

 

    In the future, our descendants may remember the 21^th century primarily for proving that humanity is not Earth-bound, but able to live and work in a microgravity environment. The last five decades may be viewed as a watershed period for commercial space and living aloft. It was a period when nations shifted from space competition to cooperation, from a space race to forming joint ventures for international macroprojects. The satellite industry not only turned our world into a global village by its communication capabilities, but demonstrated that it could be a profitable enterprise. Furthermore, orbital imaging and sensing have shown myriad practical applications on Earth, even in protecting our planet’s environment. The Russian space station Mir became the first platform for true international cooperation by agreements which brought aboard Europeans, Japanese, and even Americans. Today, the International Space Station expands the opportunities for some 16 national partners to practice synergy.  Now spacefaring nations have much to gain in forming partnerships in lunar missions, particularly toward the goal of  returning humans to the Moon permanently by year 2020. Perhaps this

Vision for Space Exploration  was best expressed  over twenty years ago in these prophetic words:

 

To lead the exploration and development of the space frontier, advancing science, technology, and enterprise, by building institutions and systems that make accessible vast new resources and support human settlements beyond Earth orbit, from the highlands of the Moon to the plains of Mars.

(Pioneering the Space Frontier, 1986, p. 2.)

 

    To actually implement such lofty goals requires global transformational leadership in both the public and the private sectors now and in the centuries ahead. 1 The business community at large, not just aerospace and communication satellite companies, must lead in the creation of a space ethos that supports an enlarged and well-funded space program, both in the public and private sectors. Yes, space is a place for fulfilling dreams, as well as for acquiring knowledge and promoting free enterprise !

 

    But how? Specifically, as our case in point, how can America further capitalize upon its $20 billion plus investment in the Apollo lunar landings? How can all nations get payback on their total space expenditures, especially through the utilization of space-based resources? Some innovative answers may be gleaned from the reports and recommendations of various space studies over past decades (e.g., NASA-SP509, 1992).  Apart from the technical and economic insights, especially for the establishment of a lunar base, these studies include proposals for:

 

·         building public consensus and financial support for the space program;

·         initiatives within the private sector to foster the peaceful use of space by its exploration and industrialization;

·         legislation that would transform a nation’s space agency, as well as its policies and procedures so as to  facilitate private space enterprise;

·         promotion of educational and research endeavors that prepare the next generation of spacefarers for offworld challenges!

 

     At this juncture, the justification for peaceful and commercial development of space resources is more human and scientific, than economic or political. The rationale for moving forward on the space frontier have to do with discoveries which maintain technological excellence, security, and leadership in a knowledge culture.  Space undertakings should aim at benefiting the Earth’s peoples, especially in the developing economies, by technology transfer within the twin planet economies of Earth-Space. Our aspirations should be to actualize our potential by extending human presence permanently into our universe. One proposal from Kim Peart of far-away Tasmania is worthy of implementation – namely, the formation of a  Solar Peace Corps to take a proactive role to ensure peace and security within our solar system, especially through utilization of the Sun’s energy and system’s resources. The aim is to connect Earth’s children to the wealth of a Solar economy.

 

    Here are three dimensions of a personal action plan for NSS members to participate toward creation of a spacefaring civilization:

 

1.       National,  Regional, and Global  Convocations on Space Enterprises

Individuals and organizations can raise the public’s awareness by sponsoring space enterprise conferences at both the local and world levels. Although this can be accomplished in actual group meetings, the best prospects for raising public consciousness on the necessity of space exploration and development may be the Internet and international television. Think back to the global media encounters sponsored by rock stars, environmentalists, and others with a humanitarian cause.  Suppose supporters were to promote a Global Space Day that included international television and computer exchanges about humanity’s future beyond Earth. The primary objective would be to further understanding and consensus on improving the quality of life for this planet inhabitants by peaceful, commercial exploration and use of space-based resources. The second purpose would be to help earthkind appreciate the importance of human migration to the Moon. The impact on world citizens would be greater than present space gatherings among only the professional elite. It is the masses of our planetary inhabitants who need education about the necessity for our moving beyond Earth. If NSS were to transform itself into the World Space Society, it would be positioned to become global leaders in this process. Currently, there is a plan underway to create a World Space Fair.

.

2.       Alternative Funding of Space Enterprises

New options must be pursued for financing space ventures, other than through the taxes and the annual governmental budget allocations. That traditional public sector approach will not obtain the $700 billion which the National Commission on Space estimated is required over the next five decades to open up the space frontier. Nor will the $200  billion needed to build a lunar base be secured by usual financial methods. Where are funds of that magnitude to come from, especially with huge national deficits and legislative spending restrictions? The history of both the Shuttle and the Space Station to date has been that of government cut-backs which undermined NASA designs and safety in mission planning.

 

    Creating a space ethos implies getting the masses of citizens involved, in some manner or other in space ventures. In a democratic, free enterprise society, what better way to accomplish this than as a “financial investor.” Innovative ways for space financing must be sought that provide citizens and entrepreneurs with financial incentives, like tax rebates, sale of bonds, or opportunities for private equity funds. To capitalize upon the enormous public interest and good will generated by the space program in the past sixty years, alternative or supplementary funding possibilities should be explored, including the authorization of stock sales in limited R&D technological space partnerships or trading companies. Recall that back in the Sputnik days, the COMSAT offering on the stock exchange was oversubscribed by the public!

 

    Public lotteries to support scientific exploration and civilizing ventures in newly opened frontiers are part of  national experiences. Since the 15^th century, European countries have used the lottery device to raise capital for public works. In 1612, the English used this means to support the Jamestown settlement. In the New World, the colonists and first citizens of the American republic employed this mechanism to fund the establishment of higher education, including Harvard, Kings College (Columbia), Dartmouth, Yale, and other universities. In the 19^th century, Americans again used lotteries to open up the Western frontier. During the present decade in the U.S.A., for instance, lotteries have become popular again within states to fund public services, particularly education. Today, many foreign countries, such as Australia and Mexico, successfully utilize lotteries or games of chance as a means of raising money to accomplish social goals. NSS should lobby for establishment of a Global Lottery Fund.

 

    If income produced from new funding sources is to alleviate the tax burden of central governments relative to space expenditures, the investment scope must be vastly broadened. That is what underlies the proposal of attorney Declan O’Donnell and myself to establish space authorities, such as a Lunar Economic Development Authority, modelled on the successful TVA. Presently, a successor strategy is being suggested in Lunar Infrastructure Development Corporation, open to global participation More creative methods of external financing of space enterprise will occur with the formation of innovative institutions for that purpose.With the proper space ethos in a country, extraterrestrial endeavors would be perceived as a primary national interest and asset. The public generally does not fully appreciate the handsome paybacks that resulted from previous space investments. To ensure citizen involvement in underwriting civilian space ventures, more research is needed both by government and universities on this subject.

 

    Were more private space capitalization encouraged, then public policy makers and world leaders would be challenged to cooperate in setting disbursement objectives for the money so raised. The public is more likely to contribute enthusiastically by purchasing space bonds, stocks, or lottery tickets if the initial funds raised were devoted exclusively or primarily to offworld economic, international, and scientific use, in preference to “star wars” type activities. For example, the initial target might be in the area of space transportation systems. That is, to build the space “highway” for the first few hundred kilometers up into Lower Earth Orbit, the most difficult part of interplanetary travel. Global participation in financing joint space ventures could provide advanced aerospace planes and reusable launch vehicles capable of operating in geosynchronous orbit or beyond …. Just as the Conestoga wagons and railroad opened up Western resources to the nation, so will these less expensive space vehicles bring resources from orbit back to benefit the home planet. NSS should be promoting space investments by private enterprise, beyond its support for NASA’s budget.

    There already exist basic constituencies to enhance the success for alternative forms of space promotion and financing, such as among:

 

·         3,000,000 members of fifty space advocacy groups worldwide who have an estimated aggregate budget today of more than $30 million;

·         beside the science fiction supporters, millions of space media fans from Star Trek television viewers and other numerous motion pictures like 2001 and Apollo 13, to the worldwide audience who witness the satellite televising of space feats or watching television productions, such as Disney’s Plymouth series about the first lunar community;

·         the millions of people who make up the global space community – aerospace workers and contractors, astronomers and engineers, professors and students, et al.

 

    Before his death, Gerard O’Neill, the visionary scientist for the high frontier, predicted that it will be private capital that will eventually finance space industrialization and colonization. The continued internationalization of space activities will attract such global investment

 

3.       Reorganization of  National Aeronautics and Space Agencies

    The emergence of new work culture based on knowledge calls for the organizational renewal of varied space administrations within the spacefaring nations. Not only do they need to cooperate more effectively on planning joint ventures, but there may be a need now for creation of a Global Space Administration, Authority, or Agency. Such an entity could coordinate the combined efforts of both the public and private sectors in space development worldwide. Such an international institution might prevent overlapping missions, facilitate cost savings, and concentrate efforts on space macroprojects with the best prospects for ROI. With a modernized charter, this space clearinghouse and research center might obtain more creative financing and planning of space activities, particularly with reference to space technology transfer, as well as attracting more venture capital and licensing space trading corporations. In past centuries, great trading corporations were formed by rulers and/or private investors to facilitate exploration and commerce in unknown or foreign lands. The 21^st century may replicate this approach by international space trading entities, comparable to existing multinational communication satellite corporations. NSS can begin by lobbying the U.S. Congress for renewal of

the American space goals and agency.

 

     Citizen involvement in any of the above three strategies would contribute to humanity’s offworld progress. Michael Simon when president of International Space Enterprises, maintained that government and industry should do more real joint space venturing together. This engineer and entrepreneur made a case for space commercialisation and lunar development. Within a free enterprise  government would encourage the private sector to greater responsibility and risk by:

 

·         incentives for tax payers who invest in space enterprise;

·         policies promoting innovative space entrepreneurialism;

·         mechanisms for improving space market responsiveness;

·         opportunities for achieving large-scale commercial benefits;

·         initiatives which encourage synergy among companies, universities, and government entities engaged in working together to apply space research and transfer technology.

 

Perhaps Simon best stated the case for investment in space development in his volume, Keeping the Dream Alive:   

 

The era in which we live presents humanity with three great challenges: to live in peace, to bring economic prosperity to all people, and to offer tomorrow’s generations an exciting future of physical and spiritual growth. During its relatively brief existence, the Space Program has emerged as a central force in our quest to meet all of these challenges. By breaching the bonds of our home planet, we have taken the tentative early steps to become an advanced interplanetary civilization. The impact of the embryonic space age on our lives, already great, will expand and intensify in the years to come, as our horizons become as limitless as the Universe itself.

 

    The UN has already designated those who go aloft as humanity’s envoys of humanity. To create a spacefaring civilization, these words of Robinson and White  highlight  the global paradigm shift under way:  

 

Our embryonic envoys have been essential intelligence agents for greater understanding of this survival vision—a total view. Through our efforts to propagate our envoys into the cosmos, through their own personal preparation and adjustments, and also through our remote biotechnological reception of their new transglobal outlook, our envoys have helped us begin to understand the systematic, dynamic, multidimensional, and continuous nature of the cosmos. 

 

 

Exhibit 1 – Orbital Envoys of Humankind.  Every spacefarer represents the human family offworld, whether worker, tourist, or settler. The hopes of our species in the future depends on their performance aloft. And they are expanded in space by our robotic creations.

Source: NASA Headquarters.

———————————————————————————————————————— 

 

     If space visions are to be turned into meaningful achievement, NSS leadership and members now need to focus on winning the new White House Administration to our cause. We can obtain backing from President Barak Obama by showing him and his administration that utilizing space resources will not only renew the nation’s economy, but can eliminate poverty on this planet. To get their support for the return permanently to the Moon in 2020, lobby for the convoking of a White House Conference on Space Enterprise! Perhaps with the new NASA administrator, Maj. Gen. Charles Bolden or his deputy, Lori Garver, NSS could advocate that these above practical space strategies be implemented!  NASA and NSS together can make the case how space development can reduce the national debt, while benefiting future generations

 

    The exercise of authentic global leadership within all segments of both the public and private sectors could transform citizen goodwill into a space ethos that permeates our lives toward opening up the high frontier. When the majority of the world’s population perceive the economic and human advantage to be gained there, then energies will be directed into its development and settlement. As astrophysicist and author David Brin reminds us, science and its child, technology, are cooperativeendeavors requiring knowledge to be shared, especially when applied beyond Earth. The prime message is simply that space is the place where human emergence can truly occur

 

For travelers, it is not enough to see the horizon alone. We must make sure of what is beyond the horizon,  and go there together.  – -Kemal Ataturk

 

RECOMMENDED READINGS:

 

Freeman, M. Krafft Ehricke’s Extraterretrial Imperative. Burlington, Canada: Apogee Books, 2008.

 

Gangle, T. The Development of Outer Space – Sovereignity and Property Rights in International Space Law. New York, NY: Praeger, 2009.

 

 Harris, P. R. Harris, P. R. Toward Human Emergence.  Amherst, MA: Human Resource Development Press, 2009…..(www.hrdpress.com)….Space Enterprise – Living and Working Offworld in the 21^st Century . New York, NY: Springer/Praxis, 2009 (www.springer.com)….Managing the Knowledge Culture (2005)).  Amherst, MA:  Human Resource Development Press, 2008  (www.hrdpress.com);  

      

Robinson, G. S, and White, J. M.  Envoys of Mankind. Washington, DC: Smithsonian  Institution Press, 1986..

 

Schrunk, D., Sharpe, B., Cooper, B. and Thangavelu, M.  The Moon: Resource, Future Development, and Settlement, Second Edition.. Chichester, UK: Praxis, 2008 (www.praxis-publishing.co.uk). 

 

Seedhouse, E. Lunar Outpost – The Challengesif Establishing a Human Settlement on the Moon….

Martial Outpost – The Challenges of Establishing a Human Outpost on Mars. New York, NY: Springer/Praxis, 2009 (2 volumes).

 

Wibbeke, E. S.  Global Business Leadership. Burlington, MA: Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann, 2009    (www.books@elsvier.com/business; www.globalbusinessleadership.com)

 

 

                                                                 

 

                                                 

                                               

 

·         ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Phil Harris is a management/space psychologist, author/editor of some 49 published books, and a founding member of L5/NSS  Visit his website, www.drphilipharris.com.

 

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The Second Coming

Reviewed by

Dr. Bob Krone

 

“Kepler  Space  University  take  pride  in  sponsoring  Rome  Collier’s  novel  THE  SECOND  COMING.   It  is  a  beautifully  constructed  and  written  story  by  an  experienced  and  creative  journalist  and  Middle  East  expert.   The  protagonist  is  a  journalist  whose    life  is  changed  by  association  with  a  young  man  of  Hebrew-Arab  descent  whose  teachings  in  the  West  Bank  make  him  a  prophet  and  modern  Messiah.  The content  and  messages  go  above  and  beyond  religion  in  a  fascinating   inclusion  of  history,  philosophy, politics,  psychology,  values   and  visions  that  are  shared   by  Kepler  Space  University  visions  for  humanity.  It’s  messages  that  “Truth endures  when  reason  will  fail ,”  “The  Comos  is  the  source   of  spirituality ,”    and  “A  meaningful  and  purposeful  life   has  value  far  above  material  desires”  are  artfully   developed.

 

 And  we  also  take  pride  in  announcing   that  the  author,  Rome  Collier,  is  actually  Kepler  Space  University’s   Walter  Putnam,  Career  International  Journalist  and   Dean  of   the  School  of  Global  and  Space   Communication. ”

 

                          Bob  Krone, Ph.D., Provost 

 

_____________________________________________________________________

 

The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism

Putting Soul in the Machine

By

Howard Bloom

Review by

Bob Frantz

Howard Bloom has produced a classic to elevate our thinking from traditional perspectives on economics to offering us a multi-lens view that encompasses the entire genomic ecosystem. His worldview can be characterized as a unified field theory that operationalizes a concept that he describes as “repurposing” which explains the transformation point in life cycles that result in elevated levels of evolutionary advancement in economic development. The boundaries to his theory include on one extreme what might be described as “orgasmic cosmology” to the opposite extreme that might be described as the “social intelligence” of bacteria. In between these extremes he draws out a steady stream of indicators that support his theory.

The book is slow reading, but in a good way. Each chapter is like a small treasure chest of entertaining, but meaningful information. For the reader it is like defrosting those frozen pockets of interest that were meant for later deeper study, but were never returned to. Each of these pockets adds support to Howard Bloom’s “Pendulum of Repurposing”.  They describe the nature of emotional and creative capitalism that ranges from monkeys learning to accept rocks as rewards resulting in developing a sense of “fairness”; from ancients learning to mix straw with mud to build structures thereby enhancing their quality of life; to the creativity of geniuses like Werner von Braun and Walt Disney who inspired others around them to higher levels of achievement. These types of creative activities were the impetus for recycling human race to higher levels of achievement and economic prosperity.

A parallel to Howard Bloom’s research can be seen in the studies of Joseph Schumpeter over 50 years ago. Schumpeter’s voluminous and seminal work into the subjects of capitalism, socialism and democracy examined the economic cycles theorized by Marx and Schumpeter referred to these cycles as the cause for “creative destruction”. Schumpeter predicted that the U.S. would certainly fall from capitalism into socialism. It would be the “intellectuals” at the time who would be the drivers of this downward transformation.

But Schumpeter was wrong and probably for the very reasons that Howard Bloom is right today. The cycles of “repurposing”, or what might be called “destructive technology”, create the competitive cycles that drive our economy to higher levels of productivity. It was entrepreneurial creativity, combined with globalization that drove us out of the depression 50 years ago and into the greatest economic era in U.S. history.

Today we are tested again just as 50 years ago where today’s self-selected “intelligencia” are taking advantage of a serious recession in an attempt to drive us into socialism in what they term as “redistribution of wealth”. Attention to Howard Bloom’s “Pendulum of Repurposing” should reenergize our spirits, giving us a “new sense of meaning” and “putting our soul” into re-igniting the engines of capitalism to avoid the black hole of socialism from which there may be no escape.

Robert L. Frantz, CEO

Kepler Space University

http://rbrtfrnt.edublogs.org

 

 

 

 

 

BEYOND EARTH

The Future of Humans in Space

Bob Krone Ph.D. Editor

Apogee Books, Ontario, Canada, 2006

 

Review  by Hylan B Lyon Jr[1]

     With  the  media  and  global  attention  understandably  concentrated  on earth’s  problems today,  major  potential  impacts  for  humanity  through  science  and  technology  are  under  publicized.  “Beyond Earth, The Future of Humans in Space” outlines the  breakthrough  benefits for humans  on  earth  and  for  the health  of  our planet that  will  flow  from  the permanent settlement  of   humans  in  space.  Forty-two  expert  authors  who  contributed  to  the  thirty-six  chapters  of   the  book  represent  all  aspects  of   the  global  space  community.  The  book  is  the  first  to focus on  the  many  complex variables  which  have  formed  space  planning,  research  and exploration  and  which   will  function  when  humans  live and work  in earth orbit,  on the Moon,  on  Mars  or elsewhere in our Solar  System.

  The  book  is sponsored  by  the Aerospace Technology Working  Group (www.ATWG.org) which  has grown  since it was founded  by  Dr. Kenneth J. Cox  in 1989  to  be  a major  space forum.  All  authors  are  members  of  ATWG and  have devoted  their lives  to  the development of  space  programs  over the past  fifty  years  and  belief,  as  Dr. Cox states  on the book cover:   “This  book  expresses  our shared  commitment  to achieving  the wonderful  possibilities  that a focused space program  may achieve  for the  benefit  of  all  of  humanity.”   As stated  by  the Editors  in  the Preface, the  book  represents  a  systems approach  to  thinking  about  this  next  huge transition  for  humans.  That  large scope  design precludes  detailed  scientific,  technological  or operational  analysis.  The  subjects  of   all  the short chapters  will  get  attention  in  future  publications. 

   The diverse  backgrounds  of  authors  as  scientists,  engineers,  technologists,  managers, program operators,  university  professors and  authors  provide  a  rich  subject  array  from  the meaning  of  space  of  past generations,  or global leaders, children  and current  thinkers  to  the Human Factors  involved  when  people  permanently  leave  earth,  to  the governance,  ethics  and  legal  aspects  desired,  to  the alternative  strategies  that  may actually  occur,  to  the  infrastructures  needed,  to  “The  First  Lunar  City”,   to  the   authors’  “Theory  and Action for  the Future  of  Humans  in Space”,  and, finally,  to an Appendix  containing  research  needed  for  this  next human epic which compares  with the exploration feats  of  Columbus  and Lewis and Clark.    

 Beyond Earth  covers  a  huge spectrum  of  benefits  for earth  and  its humans  as  migration  to space occurs. Those include medical  and  biological  advances,  solutions  to current energy  problems,  businesses  that  will  match  any  industries  on  earth  today,   tourism  and entertainment,  education,  and  global  social  benefits.  The authors  know  that  space  offers  solutions  to global  ecosystem  deterioration,  reducing  the  impacts  of  weather  changes  and natural  disasters  on  earth,  and planetary  defenses  from  extra-terrestrial  threats.  They  also  are  not utopian  thinkers  and  fully  understand  the complexity  and  uncertainties  involved  in achieving  required  international  political  will  to  implement  the  programs that  can achieve  those  benefits  and ameliorate  those  threats.

    The idea that the evolutionary pressures of life off of earth will take us in new directions is another of the delicious bites of exciting new issues that emerge in this book. Bacteria and microbiology are disciplines that will respond differently to space existence. They will also feed back to improve scientific understandings that can profoundly impact those of us who remain on earth.  Education here on earth for this unfolding new era is described. Children’s descriptions of space with their beautiful unfettered spirits can tell us about ourselves as well as the future, examples are presented that carry this on into adult life with new potentials of understanding the spiritual dimensions of life. All of which lead not only to: cellular, body and social evolution, but takes us into new domains of personal awareness. Some of the prose is beautiful in its subtle but touching cries for each of us to reach into ourselves for a deeper awareness of who we are and what we should attempt to be as we evolve. In a sense the rebirth of the spirit and energy of the Apollo program emerges from the text.

  The section on technologies highlights the strengths of NASA but in the context of going beyond just building rockets and missions for their own sake. Dimensions that used to be deferred to implementation phases now have to be factored into the initial structure of the program. Rather elegant management processes built upon what has come before are described but need to be adapted to include these other considerations.  But as we read these latter chapters, the echoes of the initial sections roll across our minds as to what do we have to do to succeed?

The final section rebuilds the notion that the fundamental human drives to carry on with a new sustained presence are in fact existing within all of us, we as a culture have to stimulate new expressions of what we already know. The social history of managing mega projects for the solution of persistent problems here on earth is highlighted as a dimension that has to be recast, not only for the structure for improving the quality of life on earth but for a presence off of earth.  The depth of space  is a mirror to  the mysteries  of  human destiny  and  long-term survival.  Our  current generation  has  the  responsibility  to  face  the  hard realities  of  today  and  to  effectively  plan  for  the preservation  and advancement of all peoples  on earth  and  as  they pioneer   into  space.

  Taken as a whole the different chapters can be overwhelming but if digested one at a time you will  absorb the human passion that is inherent in each. When completed you should understand why this is such an important juncture in human history.

 

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[1] The  Kepler  Space  University  is  pleased  to  publish  this  review  of  the  book  that  is  a  foundation  document  for  the  University.  Hylan  B.  Lyon  Jr.   is a co-author  of  the  book.  He   was  a member  of  the  President’s  Science Advisory Staff  for space  and  aviation  in  the  1970s.  Since  then  he  has  held many  business  and  policy  assignments  on  high  technology  and  aerospace in  both  government  and  industry  as well  as being President  and  COO  of  Gamma  Design, Inc. BEYOND  EARTH:  THE  FUTURE  OF  HUMANS  IN  SPACE  can be ordered at  www.keplerspaceuniversity.com .