EARTH360

This website features articles and designs I've created from 1990 to the present. Additional pieces currently hosted on other platforms will soon be transferred here, along with many new works in preparation.
[My Facebook account was hacked on January 1, 2024. I am currently working exploring legal options to recover the account. Although my author page is still publicly available, I, myself, cannot access it.]

I am an independent scholar, autodidactic polymath, science journalist, 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 several books and manuscripts, some of which you can link to:
"Prime Successor Irreducibility" a paper co-written with mathematician and AI developer Ben Goertzel recently published on arxiv.org
"Tommy Turtle at the Rabbit School" a STEM children's book series
"Plato's Atlantis Allegory: The Sundaland Hypothesis"
"Atoms and Souls: The Prehistoric Origins of Science and Religion"

"Autism: A Novel Environmental Hypothesis"
Book: "Genius Nation: My Educational Odyssey"
Article: "Understanding China: Eight Years in the Middle Kingdom"
Article: "The Tripartite Model of Personality and Politics"

Sir Harry Kroto invited me to present my models at the first international interdisciplinary conference on Carbon-60 in 1994.  I have also designed a modern-day Stonehenge, called SpaceHenge and authored a paper explaining geodesic domes. Currently, I serve as an advisor to the Lifeboat Foundation. As a competitive 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 both Behavioral Sciences and Philosophy. One of my advisors at the Air Force Academy was Roger Bate, co-author of the classic astrodynamics textbook, who inspired my interest in computer science and AI. I later 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.

During my Air Force service, I lectured at the Test Pilot School on information overload and collected data from test pilots for research. However, due to my views on the Vietnam War, I left the Air Force as a conscientious objector.

From 1975-1985, I was associated with the Church of Scientology, serving as a staff member from 1977-1980. During this period, since staff pay could not support us I worked various part-time jobs, including selling artwork door-to-door and delivering newspapers. I learned some valuable lessons from my experiences.

After leaving staff in 1980, I worked in numerous roles: lifeguard, swim instructor and coach, substitute teacher, machine press operator, sprout packer, box shipper, truck driver, furniture mover, door-to-door sales, telephone solicitor, and summer camp counselor/bus driver. This diverse experience provided valuable insights into different aspects of society and human nature, as well as organizational structures and functions.

From 1982 through the 1990s, From 1982 through the 1990s, I taught primarily ethnic minorities and economically disadvantaged students as both a substitute and long-term substitute in the inner city of Los Angeles, including South-Central and East LA. My evenings were dedicated to exploring various scientific subjects and writing extensively. During this time, I visited three active volcanoes—research that ultimately led to my first book on the natural origins of mythology and religion. I also applied my computer programming skills to study highly composite numbers, resulting in an article on the subject.

In the 2000s, I worked as an adjunct instructor across several diverse institutions. I taught Mathematics for Artists at Otis College of Art and Design; Introduction to Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, and Critical Thinking at Los Angeles City College; Cognitive Psychology at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth; and Science for Film-Makers at Columbia College Hollywood.

In the late 2000s, I returned to substitute teaching just as the Great Recession began. As newly laid-off teachers absorbed the available substitute positions, work for the rest of us became severely limited. Initially, I spent my evenings endlessly refreshing the district's webpage just to try to grab a job the moment it came online. To solve this, I developed a web robot to find and click on listings for me. By searching for a job every three seconds all night long, the program secured me sufficient work once again. However, when the school district's system engineers discovered my automated workaround, they copied the webot idea and sold it to all the substitute teachers. Facing a lack of work and imminent homelessness, I made a major pivot in the fall of 2010 and left for a teaching job in China.

I spent the next eight years at Xiamen University, a prestigious national university. There, I taught Spoken English in the College of Foreign Languages and Cultures and collaborated with both the Brain-Like Intelligence Systems Lab and the Multi-Media Lab, editing papers and offering suggestions. In my free time, I immersed myself in studying the language, geography, history, and philosophy of China.

Ultimately, thanks to my extensive substitute background, I have taught at 116 different schools, colleges, and universities, spanning every grade level from kindergarten through university. his journey has perhaps made me—somewhat inadvertently—one of the world's most experienced educators, equipped with unique insights into the field. educators with some unique insights into this field.

My current interests are the origins of science and religion, 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 good ideas..."