My Journey

Dedication

This work is dedicated, first and foremost, to Jen, Ethan and Henry, but also to all of my family and good friends with whom I have shared some of these ideas. Thank you sincerely for your patience, support, and understanding in this matter, which is my passion.

Awakening

The past two years have been the most challenging of my life. After 25 years in consulting, I was impacted by a reduction-in-force at my employer in September 2023. Like many people going through similar situations, though very difficult, this gave me an opportunity to step back and think about what I wanted to do for the remaining 15 years of my professional career and to focus on things that really interest and excite me

Discovering the Intellectual Path

After a year of reflection and research, I formalized my long-standing interest in human decision-making and artificial intelligence, focusing on how each can inform and improve the other. I adjusted my listening habits (I listen to books and podcasts every day while walking for 1 to 2 hours) and sought to build a foundational understanding of the development of AI and the underpinnings of human decision-making and behavior. I loved it; it fed my hyper-curious and knowledge-thirsty nature and helped me crystallize an idea about a framework that might enable me (and maybe others) to make choices that result in greater health, happiness, and fulfillment, hence, the Mastery of Life (MOL) framework.

The “Hippy Dippy” Phase

I know, I know, I had clearly flipped my lid and had gone all hippy dippy earthy feely. When I initially shared my idea with family and friends, they had a hard time understanding how this successful (albeit currently unemployed) technology professional was now talking Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I stuck to my guns and, in parallel with my continuing education listening, I decided it was time to get hands-on with AI and try using it to help me build a web application (a steppingstone to a mobile app) that embodied my emerging MOL framework. I won’t be telling anyone who has tried something similar that this is an enlightening and humbling experience.

Technical Rabbit Hole

I made rapid progress, but my initial focus was on an application tailored just for me. However, as my conviction in the idea strengthened, I decided it was time to expand the scope to a secure, multi-user, and customizable (to a certain extent) application. It is not at all lost on me that, after 25 years of guiding and advising organizations to be disciplined in their technology initiatives and guard against scope creep, I just blew up my baby and I went down the vibe coding rabbit hole.

Needless to say, my progress slowed drastically. As I focused on implementing registration, user profiles, and the related supporting infrastructure, the near-complete user interface got substantially degraded. After several weeks of only modestly productive churn, I stepped away. I decided to shift the majority of my attention to documenting some of the core ideas that were emerging from my listening, reading, and vibe coding experience.

From Code to Concepts

In March 2025, I began creating (what is now a series of) LinkedIn articles and posts related to AI, AGI, human intelligence, and the relationship between the two:

• Promoting WSJ Opinion
• Don’t Sleep, There Are AI Cannibals
• Comment on Andrew Ng’s observation about AI and programming
• Is AGI really just around the corner, or are we overlooking something fundamental?
• AGI - The Human Angle
• BPU vs GPU: Rethinking the Roadmap to AGI
• Make your own decision. Don’t be on auto-pilot.
• Scaling Won’t Make AI Wise - Architecture Will

From Articles to Framework

LinkedIn posts and articles are intentionally limited in their detail. The ideas and concepts I had shared in summary form on LinkedIn were a fraction of the thinking I had done and the supporting evidence I had gathered. Furthermore, my work included several related ideas that I had not yet shared, so I decided it was time to put all of the ideas into a series of four (for now) working papers that you can find on this website.

The Journey Continues

While I’ve moved beyond traditional consulting for the time being; the skills honed over 25 years, translating complex business needs into technical architecture, guiding organizations through digital transformation, and bridging strategic vision with practical implementation remain incredibly valuable. I’m particularly interested in applying these skills to organizations working on AI safety, human-AI collaboration, or biologically-inspired computing.

This journey has also reaffirmed my commitment to public service. The same principles of modular design, attention allocation, and human-centered systems that inform my AI research are equally applicable to modernizing government services, creating equitable digital platforms, and ensuring technology serves all citizens and not just the privileged few.

The consulting world taught me how to solve complex problems at scale; now I’m applying those lessons to what may be humanity’s most important challenge: ensuring artificial intelligence develops in ways that enhance rather than replace human capability and wisdom.

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to the authors, researchers, and thinkers of the past, present, and future, whose work has inspired and informed my thinking. The books featured on this site represent just a fraction of the intellectual traditions that have shaped this framework.

This journey remains ongoing, and I welcome conversations with fellow travelers.