Hey folks!

I LOVE this forum and I love to see that EKUMA1981, Neo, jdlaw, and others have kept the faith and continue to use this place to share cool ideas.

Every time GoDaddy does an upgrade to my website I cringe at the thought that they might break this ancient YAF instance. But, so far so good. Knock on wood!

Yeah, I know, I haven't been around much. And y'all prolly dgaf why but I thought I would share anyway, in the remote chance that anybody gives a crap. I'm guessing there are maybe 3 of you lol. Kinda sad really, for a forum centered around some of the most profound topics ever. But for you faithful, you ROCK!

Life is busy - at 68, despite having paid into the American system for my entire life, I am still unable to retire. Mostly my own fault because I like to live well lol. But the tl;dr version is I've been working a lot, building a new practice (Clervio), and dealing with the usual life stuff, like wives and moves and money and kids and family drama.

I've also lost a little of the passion for my vision. Gotten kind of sick of watching knuckleheads like Elon Musk and bandwagon-jumping physicists like Neil deGrasse Tyson get credit for Simulation theory. Look at the record people - it was me, Tom Campbell, Nick Bostrom, and the other folks on my thought leader page, that started this.

And to be fair, I suffer from a bit of ADHD, and tend to follow shiny objects. My two shiny objects right now are...

My 3rd book, Level 5. Ive been trying to get it out there for 4 years now. The publishing business absolutely sucks. I want this to be big - have a trajectory like "The Martian." You can't do that by self-publishing or by using a vanity press. You need a major publisher with promotional clout, Hollywood influence, etc. And the only way to get that - correction, not entirely true, but the most tried and true way to get that - is by getting a literary agent. And literary agents these days take on 1 new client for every 1000 submissions. So it is an uphill battle, especially since most literary agents are looking for "underrepresented voices." which I obviously am not. Nor are my protagonists.

So I went through 100+ rejections back in 2023, decided I needed to face the music - that my writing just wasn't good enough. So I employed 2 separate developmental editors, including the guy who edited the aforementioned "The Martian," and they both really helped me to strengthen the book. So this year, I have begun another battle for a literary agent. Too soon to tell if I will find one but I do have other things up my sleeve. "The Martian", for example was released chapter by chapter on Weir's website and then put up for sale on Kindle for 99 cents.

The second shiny object is built around something that I come back to over and over throughout my life - music. This website explains it best - The Consultant. Yeah, I make crazy mashups of classic rock, hip hop, EDM, and world beat. I have over 10k TikTok followers atm, and 6k+ on YouTube. It's what I spend most evenings doing.

So I'm back now. To my 3rd shiny object. Simulation Theory.

Let's talk.