Independent Researcher

I earned my PhD in Cognitive and Neural Systems at Boston University in 1994. I was perfectly prepared to return to my former career in image processing and computer vision, but in the course of my PhD work I had made some discoveries which I knew were rather interesting and significant. However try as I might, I could not seem to get my ideas published in the peer reviewed journals. I was so sure that I had stumbled on something of significance that I could not in good conscience just drop it. I had no choice but to pursue my idea at least until it was published somewhere. But the more I worked on the idea, the more I discovered interesting new aspects of the problem, which in turn became still more papers, which resulted in still more rejections for publication. I now have a considerable collection of papers on many aspects of perception and cognition, all based on a single world view, arrived at by re-examining some of the foundational assumptions of contemporary neuroscience and psychology.

By now I am aware that either I am completely and totally mad, or what I have discovered must be of considerable significance, as evidenced by the apparent difficulty that so many others in the field seem to have seeing the truth where I have found it. For the conventional view is demonstrably wrong on sound logical grounds, and therefore my alternative deserves at the very least to be released for publication to allow other researchers to evaluate the evidence and make their own judgements on the matter. I have now completed a book on the subject, which has been accepted for publication by Lawrence Erlbaum. So I struggle on, secure in the knowledge that some day the significance of my theory will at last get the recognition it deserves. I only hope that it happens in my lifetime, so that my long-suffering family will reap some benefit, after my years of unemployment during what should have been the most productive years of my life.

I am currently based at the Schepens Eye Research Laboratory, where my former post-doctoral advisor allows me the use of the facilities for my continued pursuit of academic acceptance.

Update September 2002

Things seem to have taken a decided turn for the better! My book is now out in print, and my Gestalt Isomorphism paper and my Directional Harmonics paper have both been accepted for publication! Maybe there might be a future for me in academia after all!

Update October 2008

After years of waiting around for my work to be eventually recognized, I have now finally thrown in the towel and given up all aspirations for a career in academia! It turns out their immense powers of ignore-ance have beaten back my paltry powers of persuasion, and I have been hounded out of science! After a year as a part-time flight instructor at Beverly Flight Center (I love flying, and I love teaching flying even more!) I have now got a real job doing computer programming and occasional flying for an aerial photography outfit called Flight Landata in North Andover, MA. right on Lawrence airport (KLWM) (north ramp). Stop by and say hello if you are flying through! I guess I will have to take my accolades posthumously!

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