My first programming class was completed on the day John Kennedy was assassinated. This was one of those days people never forget, just like 9/11.

Since that day, I have witnessed the explosion of technology into all aspects of life on Earth. With the additional capabilities of modern communication systems and the Internet, we have never been so ready to create a future that will reflect our true selves. By "true" selves, I refer to Shakespeare's "To thine own self be true."

Technology appears quite complex to the average person, but it's only a tool. Computers are extensions of the human brain, specifically, the left hemisphere. As I've said in previous essays, it is not what something is named that carries value; the value is in what it does. The intelligence required to understand today's technology is not really that much, if we reduce it to its lowest common denominator.

The lowest common denominator that runs the whole shebang is 1 and the absence of 1 - zero. From this binary nature, all systems are created. It is the sequential arrangement of these two elements that can translate all human thought into machine instructions. All programs are congealed thoughts in electronic form. Indeed, the word "information" can be stated as thoughts in formation, like a military unit. If we can agree that sequences of zeroes and ones are the basis for all systems existing in the world today we can agree that they can be modified. We need exhaustive debugging to change our course towards disaster.

A datum is a fact. When we gather data, it is for the express purpose of making a decision. If we want to plan a wedding, we gather data about dresses, invitees, halls, catering, etc. in order to have a pleasant experience and share it with those close to us. When data are presented to a corporate executive, their purpose is to make decisions about whether or not the activities of the employees (Income Statement) will result in a profitable month, quarter, or year (Balance Sheet.) Most of my technological career was spent in analyzing Fortune 500 systems to find ways of increasing profitability. I would get Annual Reports and compare percentages in each department of the companies in the same business to find ones that were not in keeping with averages. That's how I found prospects.

Along the way, I encountered many creative ways to reduce costs of operating Information Systems departments. It also became obvious that all computer systems are interdependent and connected. For the corporate world and other businesses, all are connected to the number called Gross National Product, GNP. I had an epiphany in 1982 that floored me for days. This concept also applies to all existence! We are all connected.

Computerization began in the middle of the nineteenth century. George Boole and Charles Babbage were trying to bring a concept into life called the Difference Engine. Boole wrote "The Calculus of Logic" which defines how people process thoughts and make decisions, mostly in formulaic depictions. In that work, it seems obvious that a thought is a cycle. Roughly stated, it follows the path of Awareness, Attention, Analysis and Action to create the next thought cycle. He is also credited with paving the binary way. He didn't see his brainchild's birth, though. It was about a hundred years later that the first useful computer was created. In 1963, I and three other programmers began to convert the manual systems of LaSalle National Bank in Chicago into its first computer, an IBM 1401. Since then, communication and connectivity has exploded to a point where we are approaching mental telepathy.

Today, voice recognition, Global Positioning System, Internet, instant communication anywhere on the globe all contribute to our potential for change. We've gone from trepanning and leeches to microsurgery. We cannot use any credit cards without information being gathered for the issuer. We can't go through an automated toll gate without recording location and time. Speeding tickets can be issued if we get to the next gate too fast. Most factories contain a few technicians and a robotic population. In the forty eight years since I began programming, the world has completely changed. We're already at breakneck pace and still speeding up. Where are we going?

Computers also allow us to extend our physical senses. The Hubble telescope is one example of how we can see far and the electronic microscope sees deep into molecular structures. The Maracaibo antenna "listens" for messages from deep space continually. We can converse with astronauts thousands of miles away and send instructions to Mars landers. Truly wondrous abilities! All are controlled with sequences of zeroes and ones.

When I started programming, the population of the world was approximately half of what it is today. If this continues, Mother Earth will be severely taxed. The real estate bubble burst and the population bubble will soon be ready to burst.

Science fiction often has the tendency to become science fact. Are we under the influence of Big Brother? Are we to have an atomic conflict as depicted in Jules Verne's "Time Machine" where eventually the Eloi are bred as food for the Morlocks? Are we headed for "Soylent Green" where we use cadavers for food? Is the scenario in "Logan's Run" the answer? Is Big Brother building landing strips in the relocated Area 51 in Australia's outback for returning aliens to gather groceries in the form of humans? Are all these greater and more powerful earthquakes and tsunamis a self-defense mechanism of Bucky Fuller's Gaea? The population will eventually dwindle. What will cause its reduction? Is one purpose of technology to get us to that Apocalypse as soon as possible? When will common sense kick in?

Technology today is pretty much used to control people's actions, moods, as well as thoughts. If we come to realize that we as a group can use technology for the betterment of life on Earth, we must have a plan. A somewhat simple plan. Technology may be daunting to some, but we don't have to know how to build a vehicle to know how to drive.

After my epiphany, I began analyzing the system we call "human beings." There are universal laws that operate this universe and they are all immutable and based on what we call Truth. Because of the enormity of these thoughts, I created my own sabbatical and went to Saudi Arabia for two years. I used my six-week vacation time in 1984 to travel around the world. Returning to the States in 1985, I began collecting more information for my own system's analysis.

Since my experience was mostly in corporations, I looked at their structure. Their systems are designed much the same way the human body is. Indeed, "corpus" means body in Latin. A corporation is an artificial body. Its General Ledger is the heart. Corporate heart controls cash flow, our heart controls blood flow. The brain is the executive level; organs like liver, stomach, lungs, etc, are the various departments that execute functions related to keeping the body healthy. A healthy body is in balance. A healthy corporation balances Assets and Liabilities and excretes profits.

At the time of this analysis, relational data bases and PCs had evolved to the point where virtually all administrative employees used them to perform their duties. I started imagining how I could put this technology to work in an "ideal" company. Many of my friends and associates were working from home and really liked it. No travel time, no gasoline usage, freedom of working hours, etc. Their physical presence at some cubicle was not necessary to perform their administrative duties. You already have a connection to cyberspace in reading this. Why not use it as a group to maintain our communities in the way we all desire?

After plying my trade in various jobs during my search, I met my partner Paul, who had designed a software system called "Slice and Dice." He had asked me to go to Purdue University with him to critique his presentation. His delivery was not sharp, but the content of what he presented struck me like a sledgehammer. The software he presented reversed the traditional programming method! In standard programming, one would first identify the objective and inputs, then convert thoughts into code to create the output. With Paul's software, a time event or transaction would make the system aware, pay attention to the components related to that thought, analyze the appropriate action to take and gather reusable instructions to execute a program - dynamically! That's how we think and act!

The problem with traditional programs is maintenance. Every time something new comes along, change must be effected in the program, sometimes by a programmer other than the originator, which has the potential of creating more problems. Another big issue is that the huge number of coded lines in most companies' systems. Paul's system could eliminate somewhere around 90% of those lines. Using reusable code and putting the pieces together dynamically eliminates redundancy.

The system works with a Knowledge Base. This is where the data and their relationships are kept. If you are aware of knowledge-based systems, you know that this not simply data storage. We can compare this to our human memory. When we make plans to achieve a goal, we use our memory and previous experiences to craft a procedure to make it happen. Knowledge bases contain know-what, know-when and know-how to activate functions and procedures to convert input to output.

Some people ask if this is Artificial Intelligence. There is no such thing. Artificial means man-made. Ego is the only man-made intelligence. Intelligence is innate in all forms. The artificial part of decision-making is the knowledge. Intelligence works with knowledge to create wisdom. If the knowledge is tainted with false beliefs and values, the system will not work properly. It must be debugged.

Another asset of Paul's software is that it can "learn." After the conversion of existing systems to one of Intelligence/Knowledge, whenever it encounters a new stimulus (transaction,) it seeks to compare it to what it "knows" to determine if it is only a variation of a similar transaction. Before making the decision, it will communicate with a human with its findings. If the human makes the decision, it "remembers" and will avoid asking again when the same transaction returns.

In 1996, we founded Cognitor, Inc., my Rosicrucian name. We renamed the module Cogitator, my screen name.

After a couple of years of trying to get this company off the ground, I gave up. All the meetings we had resulted in spotty work that never established the potential. The executives we approached were of two kinds- those who could not imagine the concept and those who understood that this system would remove the need for executives. The second kind did not want to download their knowledge for the computer to get better results than they themselves could provide.

I turned my efforts to debugging the human system, starting with my own. There is no way anyone can know someone else better than oneself, so that's what I set out to do. Get to know me completely, not in the sense of who I am, but What I am. I discovered that we are spiritual beings experiencing a human life. After studying Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity and its successor, Quantum Mechanics, I found the counterpart to zeroes and ones in humans - Wave/Particle. Zero is the wave and one is the particle. The same equation proves the existence of both.

Applying this thought to DesCartes' "Cogito, ergo sum," it finally made sense. He was trying to prove the existence of God with logic. "I think, therefore I am" actually means "I think, therefore, I/AM," the eternal I/AM that is God. The "I" is the physical noun Being and the "AM" is the verb Being. Life contemplating itself. Ultra cool! Metaphysics in a nutshell.

I know that the operating system we are born with has more intelligence and knowledge than I could ever learn as a human being. This operating system is encoded in the DNA of every living being, including plants. Its function is to maintain homeostasis for the being it occupies. We do not have to learn how to exchange oxygen for carbon dioxide, digest food to replenish our energy supply, beat our hearts at 72 beats per minute, etc. An acorn does not attend class to become an oak tree and a lizard does not aspire to be a raven, either. Only humans attempt to be something other than what they are.

All computer systems are controlled by an operating system, whether UNIX, Jaguar, or any other. They work the same way ours does. The difference is that they need to be connected to the elements they use to stay in balance. As evidenced today, the connections can be expanded indefinitely into all walks of life. From Washington, D.C. down to and through each worker, the connections are there. The key to each level is the social security number and the tax ID number. That's our economic system. It appears to require debugging.

The method for returning this planet to the heaven it was is in our hands. We have to return to self-sustaining communities and connect to all other self-sustaining communities. The Internet can make this a reality. All existing systems of products, services and logistics already reside on computers. We simply have to take the responsibility for our existence instead of surrendering it to politicians.

The conversion to a knowledge base may seem daunting, but there is a way to extract knowledge from the existing code structures. The effort would be minimal if the existing workforce would participate. They could be trained quickly enough. None of the existing systems would suffer because functions and programs would be converted piecemeal and the system would use both old and new technology until fully converted. Once that is underway, it is a matter of segmenting society into communities in an ever growing spiral that eventually would be united in a new world order- John Lennon's "Imagine."