My 'Spiritual' Journey - Episode 2

The movement of my career from DCA Design Draftsman to CSIRO Technical Officer, and then to University Lecturer was most definitely orchestrated by God.

Shortly before my 13 years with DCA ended I was becoming bored and in need of a new challenge. I had worked on some interesting projects, such as the Public Flight Information System still in use today, and Interscan, the world's first automatic aircraft landing system. But it was time for a change. I looked with little enthusiasm at a couple of job advertisements, but someone showed me an advertisement for a Technical Officer at a new Division of Manufacturing Technology being established by CSIRO. In particular, the Integrated Engineering and Manufacture Group needed someone to handle the installation of electronic systems for two robots, a computer vision system and a numerically controlled milling machine. I had no experience with any of these. In fact I had little practical experience with any electronic hardware - I was a draftsman with a ham licence and half a maths degree!

I was short-listed (I have a suspicion that it might have been a VERY short list - perhaps one entry!) and interviewed. At the interview with the head of the division, the personel officer, and two research scientists, I sat and listened while they outlined all of their ambitious hopes and plans for the new group. It sounded like science fiction. Then I was asked two questions. The first was "Did I like the sound of what they were doing?" I said, "Yes, it sounds very exciting." Then they asked whether I understood the employment conditions and was happy with them. Again I said "Yes." I got the job! This has to be God!

My introduction to life at a lab was interesting. On my first day I walked into the staff tea room to find a crowd there and one of the younger scientists standing in the middle of the conference table with his hands out and exclaiming, "What, what, what, what, what!". Well there can only be one response to that so I said, "Only five whats. You're not very bright are you?" He immediately went into raptures and shouted, "At last! At last!" Another Goon Show fan had arrived. Everyone else was standing around completely mystified about what had just transpired, but I knew I had at least one friend for life!

The learning curve was pretty steep - not least because soon I discovered that I was completely on my own as far as the electronics was concerned. The whole group consisted of a senior research scientist from Bell Labs who had experience in microprocessors, a research scientist trained in mechanical systems, a production engineer, a mechanical technical officer and myself. Later we were joined by a metallurgist whom I will mention again further down. We had a ball! This was the time when Dr. Barry Jones was Minister for Science and Technology. He was talking about the 'Knowledge Country', and the 'Sunrise Industries'. Well, the Sunrise Industries he was referring to consisted of we five enthusiasts at CSIRO Man. Tech. We had plenty of money, and the world was watching.

Apart from wiring up Australia's first flexible manufacturing cell, I was handed the task of learning how automatic vision systems worked, and then programming one to control the robots interacting with the milling machine. It had to be able to recognise parts, check if they were faulty, and instruct a robot to place them in appropriate bins. And in its spare time between these actions it controlled another small robot that the other Tech and I had renovated and taught to play the drums and write its name on a piece of paper. When we demonstrated the whole system to the politicians and the press the noise was horrendous. There were only two of these very $300,000 Automatix vision systems in Australia. I had one and a guy at Kodak Research labs had the other. We were able to help each other out on occasion. Almost no-one else had robots at the time - this was quarter of a century ago. The IBM PC had not even been invented yet. Lot's of fun! And I got paid as well!

Scientific research is not always serious. On the day before we were to open the first flexible manufacturing cell I had to wire up a small box with a button. The then minister, John Button, would hold the box while he made his speech and then press the button to start the robots. The only suitable box I could find at short notice was a plastic jiffy box. It looked fine, but was so light that it didn't have enough 'presence' to be given such an important role. So I wrapped a large ring bolt in foam plastic and placed it in the almost empty box. The minister was suitably impressed as he hefted this solid piece of 'technology' that was to herald a new age of technical innovation into Australian industry.

I was priveleged to work on some exciting projects, such as banknote recognition for the Reserve Bank of Australia, and construction of some computerised test equitpment for the Cochlea Bionic Ear project. But the one that gives me the most satisfaction began one day when a scientist from another group stopped me in the tea room and asked me what a NAND gate was. Miles apparently knew nothing about electronics - his PhD was in metallurgy. I explained how the logic functions used to construct the building blocks of computers worked. He then went away and read the standard microcircuit text of the time by Mead and Conway, and before I knew it he was in Adelaide working on a chip to carry out vision processing. He eventually developed a single chip that replaced my quarter ton vision system - TV signal in one end and a description of the scene out the other! One of these was used in the Hubble Space Telescope. This process, from tea room conversation to finished chip took about a year - he was one smart cookie! But there is also a part of me out there in space, and that was only the first time, as I will relate later.

My 'Spiritual' Journey - Episode 1

As I try to understand more about the spiritual world I am learning that it is not as separate from the natural world as is commonly believed. In particular, I find that the Lord has been working to win me throughout my past life, using the most ordinary of experiences to reveal himself to me, and even often protecting me from danger so that I would arrive at the place I have reached today.

This means that one aspect of my investigations must be the exploration of my own history, in order to identify his hand there. This is why I have decided to begin this chronicle of my life, and will write down anything the Spirit brings back to mind as I do so, assuming that if he reminds me of something then it must be significant, even if its importance is not obvious to me at the time of writing. I will attempt to write chronologically, but make no guarantees. So, let's begin.

I was born in 1949, to wonderful parents who gave me a great start in life, with enormous advantages, despite having almost no money. The few memories I have of early childhood are memories of love, security and happiness. There were undoubtedly moments, as in anyone's life, that were best forgotten, and I seem to have generally done just that.

When I discovered, half a century later, that I am a baby-boomer, it meant little to me. Everyone else might be labeled as 'this' or 'that', but I am just 'me' - normal of course ('normality' being, by definition, what I am, with everyone else deviating to a greater or lesser degree from that). I sometimes hear people talking about a person's IQ as 'only average', as if this means they are somehow deficient in intelligence. But most people are average, with an IQ of about 100. That is what average means - it is what most people are. Similarly, I am normal - though my IQ is certainly not average, as I was to discover during the 1970s when I had a brief fascination with such things as empirical psychology and IQ tests.

My father had great persistence, could turn his hand to almost anything, and could improvise with remarkable creativity. All of the houses we lived in were either built or extensively modified by him. He did this at low cost. I remember trips to Wheelan the Wreckers where he would spend what seemed like hours sorting through second-hand windows and doors, and structural timber. I once saw him arrive home on his bicycle with several lengths of spouting 30 foot long balanced on his shoulder. You could get away with such things in those days. I have either inherited or learned from him this love of improvisation, along with the less admirable hoarding streak that goes with it.

Dad is a deeply spiritual man, with a thirst for knowledge and understanding that made him a habituee of numerous second-hand Christian book shops. I have that same love of reading and learning, and also am addicted to books. I once said to him that if he left me nothing else, I would like his books - the thought of them going to some of the other 'scroungers' in the family was horrific. And as for them being thrown out - blasphemy! Well, by the grace of God Dad is still with us, but he has already given me the books for safe-keeping.

Another passion I inherited from Dad is a love of aeroplanes. Unfortunately, apart from a brief excursion into flying light-planes and sailplanes, and a lot of fun designing, building and flying model planes, my eyesight precluded thoughts of a serious career in aviation. I did begin a mechanical engineering degree, but an interest in all things electronic, sparked by my uncle Jim, who was either an electrician or electrical engineer, my brother-in-law Bill who owned one of Melbourne's first transistor radio repair businesses, and a relatively unsuccessful excursion into early radio control of model aircraft, I switched to Electrical Engineering. I have a suspicion that Dad enrolled me in Mech. Eng. as part of fulfilling his own dream. His own studies were interrupted by World War Two and he spent the war and the few following years as an aircraft engineer.

I did not do well at my initial degree studies, not from lack of ability, but quite the reverse. I had found secondary school studies at Williamstown Technical School so easy that I never learned how to work. When I bombed out, Dad encouraged me to try for one of the new traineeships with the Department of Civil Aviation. I was successful and spent four years of day release study at Collinwood Technical College obtaining an Electrical Design Drafting Higher Technician Certificate (what they now call an Associate Diploma), and 13 happy years with D.C.A. helping to build and then maintain the electrical, communications and navigations systems of Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport. It was as close to a career in aviation as I was to come.

Before this I had obtained an Amateur Radio licence. During one Christmas holiday our family spent at a rented house at Milgrove, on the Yarra River near Warburton, I read through the Radio Communication Handbook, published by the Radio Society of Great Britain, Teach Yourself Electronics and Teach Yourself Computers. I then sat the Theory and Regulations sections of the Australian Post Office exams and obtained more than the 70% pass mark required for a licence. I became, and still am VK3ZDD. I took to electronics like breathing.

While working at Tullamarine I took advantage of the generous Australian Public Service study provisions and commenced a degree in mathematics at RMIT. I applied to do degrees in Maths and in Physics, and was accepted for both. My choice of mathematics was not because I was particullarly interested in the subject. I really wanted to study Electronics and Communications, but found these subjects fairly easy to learn on my own. However, I had always struggled with maths; at least until fifth form when I was given a marvelous teacher in Charlie Green, who managed to spark a latent interest. I knew that to do electronics really well I would need maths so I decided to tackle the problem head-on and do a whole degree in it. I loved it, and spent seven years of part-time study learning how to think clearly, reason accurately, and wonder at what God has made. I received a Diploma of Mathematics in 1983 and a Batchelor of Applied Science in 1984. By the time I received the degree I had left DCA and was working in robotics and vision systems with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). That's in the next part of my story.

Report on Anazao Conferences

Di and I have just spent 5 days with Peter Toth and Heather Scott of Anazao. The level 1 and 2 conference was excellent, and despite (or probably because) it stretching some of our theological assumptions. There way of ministering to the most broken of people is undoubtedly the most effective - and easiest - that I have experienced.

They effectively and quickly minister to DID and SRA victims without delving into the dungeons and dragons like labrynth that others seem to think is necessary, bringing rapid integration while preserving the dignity of the person and not giving the kingdom of darkness a stage to act upon.

Their method of carrying out deliverance resonates very strongly with the practice we learned from Dr Charles Kraft.

If there is any way you could get to one of their conferences or schools, whatever the cost, then do it! Details at www.anazao.com.au.