An Interesting Short Book with a Long Title:

“How to Identify and Address Critical Global and US Problems and Solve them in Sixty Years or Less” by “A Concerned US Senior Citizen”.

The book covers a wide variety of topics ranging from human survival and wellbeing, to current political conditions in the USA, as well as mortality and the relations between men and women, It identifies issues and proposes action to addresses them. Proposed action is derived from the author’s theoretical research and practical experience as an architect and urban planner.

Check it out on Amazon, you might like it!?

The Russian Invasion of the Ukraine

Some people approve of Putin’s action in the Ukraine, while many disapprove of what he is doing; notable in this respect is that past president Trump praised Putin and did not condemn his action. Today, I do not wish, and am unable to think of what to say to those who might approve of Putin’s action and Trump’s endorsement. Instead, I aim to reach out to those who do not approve of what is happening in the Ukraine and wish that similar incursions would never happen again.

The question is what to do to avert the recurrence of incidents such the invasion of the Ukraine and the devastation and human suffering that they bring about. Furthermore, generally, it behooves us to consider what to do to promote the wellbeing of all the peoples of the world? Well, I have been trying to address these issues for years. Sadly, I came to the conclusion that no quick fix for current problems is readily practicable. Rather, it is likely that only a prolonged concerted approach could ultimately bring about positive results! My last book “2084” is a short story that contemplates a potential scenario of developments that could possibly bring about utopian conditions. The book covers a myriad of issues, including international relations, the practice of democracy, the degradation of the environment, nationalism, racism, and other topics relevant to human survival and wellbeing. It also addresses the thorny issues of facing mortality and the relations between men and women!

Check out the book, it is featured on the right. Should you sympathize with my assessments and views, please spread the word.

The Implementation of Tychiformation

When I conceived the idea that I dubbed “tychiformation” over two decades ago, I wrote my first book with the same title. The book explained the concept and contemplated how it could be implemented; which involved the participation of various scholars. Since then, I did what I could do on my own by writing four books promoting rational progressive thought. More recently, I felt that it is high time to seriously pursue the implementation of tychiformation as initially conceived, and prepared a proposal to establish The Center for Tychiformation Studies (TCFTS) to achieve this end. I’ll start by explaining the need for action.

Over the millennia, human conditions have gone through numerous phases of improvements and setbacks. On the whole though, the human predicament has generally improved with time; this is evidenced by the growth of the population. Accordingly, one could assume that progress would continue without the need for organized interference with prevailing conditions.

However, recent scientific knowledge revealed previously unknown existential threats to survival, and even population growth itself is now damaging the Earth’s environment that sustains life. In addition, the number of people who suffer from poor living conditions is now in the billions who need help. Although research and action to address relevant issues is underway, current efforts are not carried out in an organized and coherent manner. My work indicates that numerous vital issues are not being addressed in a manner commensurate with the extent of their criticality, and therefore, require additional attention. Furthermore, opposite positions are being held in respect of certain significant societal issues. The conflicting positions need to be addressed, and hopefully, be sorted out one way or the other.

Accordingly, TCFTS aims to streamline our efforts to avert potential setbacks and to improve our chances for survival and wellbeing. It is intended to guide public opinion and policy makers by:

• Identifying the threats to human survival and wellbeing and ranking the extent of their criticality to establish priorities for action.
• Researching and rigorously addressing the identified priority critical threats based on scientific and factual information and deductive reasoning.
• Soliciting appropriate entities to participate in tychiformation and coordinating and integrating their inputs.  
• Periodically publishing TCFTS’s conclusions and seeking public feedback. 

Dissemination of the project’s findings is anticipated to influence public opinion, and to guide both governmental and private institutions’ action in funding relevant research and implementing pertinent projects. This would expedite progress in addressing the human condition.

The first book I wrote was completed around 2000 and titled “TYCHIFORMATION”; writing it prompted me to establish this website with the same title in 2008. The book explained the circumstances that led me to coin the word “tychiformation” and what the word signifies. It also described the evolution of my thoughts over three decades of professional experience as an architect and urban planner, which led to the conception of my proposals for rigorous strategic action to address the issues of human survival and wellbeing. In general, the discourse reflects arguments that could form the foundations of progressive thinking.

For many years, I decided not to publish my first book because I felt that the subject matter is philosophical and may not be of interest to a wide audience; however, in the meantime, I allowed download of the text from this website. Now, I decided to publish the unedited original text of the book in order to complete the public record of my work. It is available from Amazon and featured at the bottom of the right column of this page.

The four books that I have already published further explore ways to apply the progressive ideas expressed in my first book, namely:

• “Planning for Survival” (2008)

• “For the People by the People” (2011)

• “The Crisis of Islamism” (2015); awarded the bronze medal in the IPPY 2016 Contest/Current Events.

• “2084” (2021)

The five books that I have authored to date reflect the evolution of my thoughts over five decades. They generally promote progressive ideas, starting from philosophical considerations and moving on to conceive ways to promote progressive action.

I recently watched a TV documentary about Ernest Hemingway and learned how often he revisited, edited and republished some of his books. I cite this not to claim any resemblance to the great literary giant, but rather to confess that, like him, I have gone through several different manuscripts of the book that I mentioned in my previous articles.

The main reason for my hesitation and uncertainty about what to write, was that I felt pressured to rush to publish the book before the 2020 elections, because I hoped that reading the book might have some impact on the results of the elections; namely, by promoting progressive ideas.

Well, my haste made waste! In addition to revising the text several times, I initially chose the title “2084” to relate my story to George Orwell’s “1984” classic, since his novel and my short story address social and political issues in the future; albeit, while he predicts dystopian conditions, I describe what I feel would be utopian developments. Then, I decided to change the title to: “How we prevailed and What the Future May Hold for Us”. I did that mainly to avoid giving the impression that my modest short story is comparable to Orwell’s classic novel; which it is not. 

Also, trying to reach out to conservatives, I used the pen name Jim Byrne, hoping that the name would be more enticing to the targeted audience! More recently however, I realized that hardcore conservatives cannot be reached; the events of January 6 and the Republican Party’s actions as of June 2021 clearly confirm that.

Now, finally, I took “How we prevailed and What the Future May Hold for Us” off the market, and republished my book with some modifications to the text, in my name and under the title that I had conceived in the first place; this time, in the hope of encouraging progressive efforts.

The book mainly addresses political and social issues. It also covers more everyday topics such as mortality and the relations between men and women, and praises the contributions of women and educators in attaining utopian conditions. Furthermore, it covers the Covid-19 pandemic and the Trump Presidency, and talks about this episode in US history a few months before the 2020 elections.  I decided not update these constantly evolving conditions. It suffices to say that the election of President Biden ushered a new era in US politics, reversing conditions from depressing to cheerful. I wish President Biden all the best in coping with the formidable challenges created by his predecessor. Check out “2084”, a link to get it from Amazon is provided on the top right.

In the last article posted below, I mentioned the book “How We Prevailed, and What the Future May Hold for Us” by -penname- Jim Byrne. To begin with, I confess that I am the author of the book; I used a penname to avoid being dismissed by racist people who might be put off by my real name. Now, I wish to claim authorship of the book on my website, since it attracts progressives.

The book is available from Amazon. It was published a few months before the presidential elections of 2020, and aimed to promote the progressive cause in an effort to help the Democrats in the elections. In it, I predicted that the Democrats will prevail in 2020. However, I thought that they would succeed by a larger margin than what actually transpired. I was somewhat disappointed, and was further dismayed by the large numbers of those who continued to support past President Trump in spite of all that he has done! Following is my explanation for what had transpired.

In recent decades, the Democratic Party championed the cause of the common people, while the Republican Party supported large corporations and wealthy Americans. In a free democracy, one would expect the Democrats who try to help the great majority of the electorate to prevail. However, Republicans, being aware of this reality, systematically tried, and succeeded in thwarting the free practice of democracy through numerous well documented strategies, and by spreading misinformation and disinformation building up to the conditions that led to the election of past President Trump.

The Democrats must also share some of the blame. Their leadership acted in half hearted ways that led many to think of them as “Republican light”. Their attitudes contributed to the dire conditions that ultimately led to the election of Trump and to the traumatic conditions that ensued after he assumed power. Recent action by the Democratic Party was probably the only practicable way to succeed in reversing conditions at the nick of time. With President Biden at the helm, we could expect a return to sanity. I wish him all the best in addressing the formidable task of pulling the country out of chaos.

I suspect that the progressive Democratic cause will continue to flourish and prevail in the foreseeable future. However, especially in light of what happened on January 6, I am most concerned about the number of gullible Americans who continue to support Trump -close to 45% of Americans- and wonder about how to address this grave issue!? As I mentioned in my last article: it is said that these people will not go away, and my response was that, go away they shall, since they are mortal like the rest of us; eventually, their offspring will be better educated and less gullible. However, this might bear fruit in a generation or even two. Therefore, the question now is how to expedite the implementation of progressive democratic ideas!?

I have been concerned with addressing this issue for decades, conceived potential future scenarios to achieve progress in my last book, and am now thinking about what could be actually done at present. Way back, I contemplated the creation of a body that would rigorously pursue tychiformation and expressed this idea in my first book. Scientific and rational work that contributes to improving the chances of human survival and well being is underway by countless entities around the world. I thought that a Tychiformation Institute (TI), perhaps hosted by a reputable university, could integrate relevant work as well as other work that I believe is needed in a methodical systematic manner to meet the goal of tychiformation. More recently, I decided that it is high time for me to try to implement the TI idea.

I am pursuing potential courses for action to this end, and will keep you posted of my progress.