Researcher

Close friends often refer to me as a disruptive innovator, meaning that I tend to create, invent, develop, or otherwise come up with ideas that upset the status quo in a variety of disciplines. I tend not to be satisfied with merely accepting on faith what others have determined to be the solution to a particular problem. I love research, and make it a habit to learn whatever I can in an area of interest, and then see if I can step back and approach the problem in a different way, often replacing the old with something new and hopefully improved. From a definition point of view, a disruptive innovation is one that improves or changes a product or service in ways that the market does not expect. A disruptive innovation ignores the currently popular paradigms and creates new ones. Historically, I have repeated this disruptive process in a number of disciplines. When I began my career in the field of rocket science, the traditional approach to modeling the behavior of spacecraft was to use analog computers as the tool of choice. I chose to replace the analog computer by emulating its behavior on a digital computer, and then proceeding from there. Some of the results of this disruptive behavior are listed under my various NASA publications. My entry into the commercial world of electronics was based on a bold statement that I had made to the president of a company that made electromechanical switches called relays. I told him these switches were not sufficiently reliable for use in long space journeys and other critical applications because they contained moving parts that could eventually wear out from extended use. I also told him that if I had the time, I could develop an equivalent switch that had no moving parts, and hence not wear out. He hired me to do just that, and the result was the formation of a new industry that produces solid state relays and circuit breakers to replace the old versions in critical applications. When I entered the world of consumer electronics, it was with the intent of simplifying the VCR recording of TV shows by consumers. That project spawned a feature known as VCR Plus that was built into virtually every VCR to simplify the recording process by replacing the old one which was too complicated. Along the way, I assisted in developing the on-screen television guide, widely available from most cable companies, to replace the print guide provided in newspapers. Now, those electronic guides make it even easier to record programs using a digital recorder. See a list of my patents in this area, along with those devoted to making radio listening an interactive experience, a feature yet to be deployed by the broadcast industry. In the field of intellectual property law, I chose to implement a different model aimed at protecting and monetizing the patent rights of companies and individuals, spawning an entire industry devoted to doing just that. Being a disruptive innovator has its rewarding moments, when something new replaces something old in a manner that yields an improvement that is appreciated by those who benefit from that improvement. Then, there is the other side of the coin - those who are being disrupted by the new - the disruptees. By way of example, how do you think the buggy-whip manufacturers felt toward Henry Ford? You get the idea - the disruptees can get downright upset about some new idea replacing their cherished businesses (or beliefs), even if the overall result is an eventual benefit to society. Well, with that as background, it now brings me to the field of health and the art of medicine, areas that have held great interest for me over the last several decades. The first book I published on the subject is entitled "The Wellness Project - A Rocket Scientist's Blueprint for Health". It includes a discussion of how I first became interested in health, how I became disenchanted with the information and counseling I was receiving from those trained in the subject, how I started over to re-research the area using the skills I had previously developed, and the startling, unexpected, and clearly disruptive conclusions that emerged from this twenty year project. Not surprisingly, readers are primarily divided into two groups. The first group has been extremely supportive of the novel hypotheses and conclusions I have drawn (backed by hundreds of references), which in many instances are in opposition to the firmly entrenched beliefs of those in the medical, dental and alternative heath fields. This group includes very open-minded and prominent MDs, dentists, and psychotherapists, as well as people from all walks of life who have been looking for unbiased answers in these fields, based on common sense and humility. The second group includes the unhappy disruptees, some of whom make their livelihood supporting the entrenched approaches to health, whether they are mainstream or alternative, and some of whom are consumers who do not want to challenge the status quo, since doing so may undermine their fundamental belief system as it applies to health and the medical establishment. I am in the fortunate position that I do not have to make a living in the health or medical fields, allowing me a totally unbiased view. My motivation for writing books in this field is in the hope that I can help at least some readers with their health problems, and I get great joy when I find that such is the case. Profits made from the sale of my books go back into funding additional research in the fields of wellness and illness prevention. http://www.montecitowellness.com