EARTH360

[Note: my plan is to move all my personal content to BillLauritzen.com. Earth360.com will be for environmental product sales, Earth360.net for global video communication with instant translation, and Earth360.org will be for climate action and STEM education initiatives.]

I am an autodidactic polymath, author, and educator. Scholars and scientists, including Nobel Prize winner Sir Harry Kroto, philosopher Daniel Dennett, author Martin Gardner, biologist Lynn Margulis, science writer and skeptic Michael Shermer, cognitive scientist Douglas Hofstadter, and environmental scientist James Lovelock, have praised or commented on my work. One of my notable books is The (Human) Invention of God: The Natural Origins of Mythology and Religion. Here’s what some reviewers have said:

I am currently working on other books: "Atoms and Souls: The Prehistoric Origins of Science and Spirituality," a STEM children's book series "Tommy Turtle at the Rabbit School" (download draft pdf), "Plato's Atlantis Allegory," and a paper entitled "Machines that Dream: Artificial Intelligence through Biomimic Forced Compression."

Sir Harry Kroto invited me to present my models at the first international interdisciplinary conference on Carbon-60 in 1994.  I also designed a modern-day Stonehenge, called SpaceHenge. I also wrote a paper explaining geodesic domes. Currently, I'm an advisor to the Lifeboat Foundation. As a swimmer, I was ranked 25th globally at age 16.

I graduated with distinction from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs where I was named Outstanding Graduate in Behavioral Sciences and Philosophy. One of my advisors at the Air Force Academy was Roger Bate who co-authored the classic book on astrodynamics, who also inspired my interest in computer science and AI. Later, I earned a master's degree from Purdue in Industrial and Organizational Psychology specializing in Human Factors (Usability) Engineering. My classmate at the Air Force Academy and at Purdue was Captain Sully Sullenberger.

While In the Air Force, I gave a lecture at the Test Pilot School on Information overload, and I also collected data from the test pilots for a paper. However, due to my views on the Vietnam war, I left the Air Force as a conscientious objector. In 1975, at the encouragement of family, I briefly joined the Church of Scientology. From 1977-1980, I was a staff member, which was an intense experience. The first two months I slept in my van in the church parking lot.

As staff members, since we could not make enough money to support ourselves, we had to take outside jobs. I sold artwork door-to-door (metal etchings and music boxes), and I also delivered the Recycler newspaper and a local weekly newspaper in my van. I have not been associated with this church since about 1985. All my experiences in Scientology would fill a book, which perhaps someday I will write. In the meantime I have written one article about it.

From 1980 to 1982 was a transitional period for me. I worked various jobs: as a lifeguard, swim instructor, supply guard, and swim coach (for LA City Aquatics, Hollywood YMCA, and Beverly Hills YMCA). I worked as a machine press operator at a paper cutting factory. I also packed sprouts in an alfalfa sprout factory, packed and shipped boxes for a marketing department, drove a moving truck and moved furniture, did more door-to-door sales (laser pictures), worked as a telephone solicitor for 3 different companies (one for 2 days, one for 3 days and one for 3 months), and worked as a summer camp counselor--which included teaching swimming and soccer as well as driving a small school bus.

In late 1982, I finally found a non-boring job, working as a substitute teacher. So from 1982 through the 1990s, I taught ethnic minorities and economically disadvantaged students as a substitute and long-term substitute in the inner city of Los Angeles, including South-Central LA and East LA. During this period, I used my evenings to explore various scientific subjects, and write many articles. I also visited three active volcanoes, which led to my first book on the natural origins of mythology and religion. I used my computer programming skills to study highly composite numbers and I wrote a notable paper about them.

In the 2000s I taught at Otis College of Art and Design (Mathematics for Artists), at Los Angeles City College (Introduction to Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Critical Thinking) at Johns Hopkins University, Center for Talented Youth (Cognitive Psychology), and at Columbia College Hollywood (Science for Film-Makers). In the late 2000s, when I was back substitute teaching and the Great Recession had begun in earnest, I developed a web robot to find jobs for myself. (When the school district's system engineers found i was somehow searching for a job every three seconds, all night long, they copied my robot and sold it to all the sub teachers.) So, in the fall of 2010, I left for China.

I taught for 8 years at a notable university, Xiamen University. I taught Spoken English in the College of Foreign Languages and Cultures and also collaborated with the Brain-Like Intelligence Systems Lab and the Multi-Media Lab (editing papers and making suggestions). In my free time, I studied Chinese language, geography, history, and philosophy.

Thanks to all my substitute teaching experience, I have taught at 116 different schools, colleges and universities, in every grade from kindergarten through university, perhaps becoming (somewhat inadvertently) one of the world's most experienced educators.

My current interests are cognitive science, AI, STEM education, and political science. More about Bill

Myself and philosopher Daniel Dennett discussing my first book in August, 2011, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Dennett later invited me to an online group of scholars studying evolution and religion and posted that "Lauritzen has some interesting ideas..."