Earlier in his career Rob had worked as an engineer on NASA's Voyager Project, secret government satellite launches, and Poseidon nuclear submarines. Rob then shifted gears and decided to study philosophy and theology at Francis Schaeffer's L'Abri high in the Swiss Alps, followed by graduate studies at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in the Boston area—otherwise known as The Hub. Then after a brief gig teaching third-year Philosophy at Barry University in south Florida the inescapable gravitational pull of Her Highness Technology recaptured Rob and he found himself once again firmly in Her orbit, this time in the San Francisco Bay Area—otherwise known as Silicon Valley. It was there that he was to begin a new career in technical communications. And it was there that he would become increasingly aware of the shadow side of the Valley.
Rob grew up on Madison Avenue in Franklin Square, a densely populated suburb of New York City. He's also lived in San Diego, New Jersey, the Boston area, south Florida, Silicon Valley, Switzerland and the Coastal Carolinas. He still remembers when you could buy a Coke for a dime and mail a first class letter for 3 cents. Back then you could drive around town with a cooler filled with beer and no seat belt. You could bike around without a helmet. We didn't fear death and didn't need life extension. We used to think of it as freedom.
Today we trade freedom for security. For some the memory of freedom is fading. Yet life remains very dangerous: everybody who's ever tried it has ended up dead.
