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Interviews Amazon.com talks to Peter Cochrane P.C.: I was born into a Nottinghamshire (UK) coal mining community in 1946 - the year after WW2 ended. Life was tough. We had neither electricity or running hot water. But among the people were fine musicians, artists, workers of wood and leather, breeders of dogs, pigeons and plants. Ingenuity was all around me - but stifled by a lack of education and coal dust. My grandfather and father taught me to ask the most important questions - why and how? My mother instilled in me a sense of honesty, of right and wrong, and the need to contribute to society. Amazon.com: When and why did you begin writing? When did you first consider yourself a writer? P.C.: I left school with a very poor education at the age of 15 years. But I had developed a consuming interest in electronics that fired up the second phase of my education. I attended night school from the age of 16 to 22, and then entered a full time 5 year EE degree course at Trent Polytechnic in Nottingham. At this time I also started teaching to augment my income. Writing concise lecture notes started the process of thinking how to communicate effectively. Forty years on I am still trying to communicate effectively. I'm not sure I am a writer yet! Amazon.com: Who or what has influenced your writing, and in what way? What books have most influenced your life? P.C.: Some books have influenced me through style, content, and weightofargument. What follows is a very small sample of such books onmyshelf: The Ascent of Man - Joseph Bronowski The Blind Watchmaker-Richard Dawkins Out of Control - Kevin Kelly Engines of Creation -EricDrexler The Lecture Notes of Richard Feynman Genius - James GleikTheascent of Mind - William H Calver Great Mambo Chicken & TheTranshuman Condition - Ed Regis The Brain - Christine Temple And thenthere are those authors who have additionally influenced me throughtheireclectic and holistic view of a singular system spanning siliconandcarbon life, humanity, systems, societies, the universeand everything: Richard Feynman, Kevin Kelly, Stephen Hawking,AlvinToffler, Arno Penzias, Eric Drexler, Ed Regis, Akio Morita,Edward deBono, Nicholas Negroponte, Kevin Warwick, Rosalind Picard,StevenLevy, Erwin Shrodinger, Brian Arthur +++many, many more Andsomeauthors through their wonderful turn of phrase and whit:DouglasAdams,Spike Milligan, Fred Hoyle, Robert M Pirsig, Ian Stewart, +++ Amazon.com: What is the most romantic book you've ever read? The scariest? The funniest? P.C.: The last romantic book I read was Lady Chatterley's Lover by DH Lawrence. Then I met my wife when I was 19 and I haven'tbothered reading romantic books since. The scariest book - Alien. Thefunniest -Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams Amazon.com: What music, if any, most inspires you to write? What do you like to listen to while writing? P.C.: I find many science fiction movie themes curiously inspirational. But when writing I do so in complete silence - I need deep thought! Amazon.com: What are you reading now? What CD is currently in your stereo? P.C.: I am currently reading New rules for the New Economy by Kevin Kelly.Idon't use a stereo I use a lap top. Sting & The Police +Beethoven's 7th are at the top of my list right now. Amazon.com: What are you working on? P.C.: My single biggest R&D investment is currently in artificiallifesystems. Software that uses sexual reproduction techniques canbreed unbelievably concise and effective solutions for all kinds oflogistic problems. Two years ago we replaced 1,6M lines of code withless than 1000 lines in my companies network. My most ambitiousproject is to capture the lifetime of a single human in a digital formso they never, in a manner of speaking, have to die. The UK Presshave christened this the Soul Catcher project! Amazon.com: Use this space to write about whatever you wish. P.C.: There is more to life and companies than money, balance sheets and profit margins. Individuals and companies have a collective responsibility to contribute positively to society and mankind in the broadest sense. We should develop technologies and make decisions as if we were going to live forever. We should also take pains to communicate clearly our purpose, what we discover, develop, and decide. We should be placing before society a raft of options for the future, complete with the implications as we see them.To do all of this it is vital that we live with and explore the futures we create. This I do - and my writings are an attempt to communicate to both a lay and professional audience. In my younger days I never anticipated doing this, but here I am.... |