User:Kevin James Daniels

I am a fiction writer and stay-home-parent to three growing boys. I have been working on a fantasy novel for several years now, and it has become a real labor-of-love, or Long Term Project. Or something. (JRR Tolkien took more than ten years working on TLOTR - I'm thinking I'll be finished long before that milestone!)

Recently I have become very interested in the SolSeedMovement; I'm hoping I can help it grow, flourish and evolve into something truly world-changing and revolutionary. You are most welcome to participate in this collaborative effort! You can post comments, add to, or edit the Solseed pages (or this page) in any way you like. In fine wiki tradition, your contributions can only help us improve. If you'd like to know more, please see EfficientlyExpressedSuggestions.

About my commitment to Solseed

In 2006, I suffered a perimesencephalic subarachnoid brain hemorrhage and spent more than a year recovering. While that was hard, it also changed some things. Mainly it helped me become more determined to stop wasting time. While I was recovering, I also stumbled upon the Pulitzer Prize winning book Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond.
The book had a profound influence on me, and forced me to examine some things about our broader status in the universe.
I began asking questions like, What are we supposed to be doing with ourselves? What is our role as a species? Why are we depleting our planet's resources in this dangerous fashion? Is this really the best we can do? (Most assuredly, it is not.)

My train of thought at this time dovetailed nicely with some books I had read earlier by the science-fiction author Octavia E Butler. Butler's story about a fictional community called Acorn gave me some clear ideas about what could be accomplished, but Diamond's book gave me the why. (My essay Pray to an Alien God discusses this subject in greater detail.)

It struck me that we really ought to be moving towards some grand unifying principle that fundamentally alters the way we interact with one and other, and also moves us along the path towards those things that we intend to achieve collaboratively, as an entire population.

For me, that grand unifying principle is coalescing around the SolSeedMovement and TheDestiny. Working together in this new medium, wikispace, I am certain we can achieve things that no one dreamed possible!

edit And some other things...

I practice Kokikai Aikido
I play Ultimate Frisbee
I am part of the Subsim Community
I'm an avid reader of fantasy and science fiction literature

edit Well that's personal...

I am married to an amazing woman, Lindsay Elaine Phillips. She is a family doctor who also provides obstetrical care. She has delivered lots of babies! and she loves this part of her work. She also does relief work in Honduras where a group of medical professionals are teaming up with local folks to improve living standards and health care in a poor rural community.
My three children are Duncan, Owen, and Patrick - who are all amazing and talented in their own way.

edit On the go...

February, 2008

Uploaded my first-ever YouTube Video.

January, 2008

Goofed around with some header/thumbnail type images for the Solseed. (I confess, I am not strongly attached to the current Solseed emblem).
Devoted some time to spiffing up my user page.
Discussed some possible clean drinking water actions with Lindsay.
Introduced some friends to my work on Solseed.

edit RE: Establishing contact

Hi Kevin,

Welcome to AboutUs.org! It's great to connect with you :) I'm sad to hear of the hard things you are coping with. I can hardly imagine having a family member diagnosed with cancer.

There are a couple of us working on the SolSeed pages here. But you are right, there hasn't been a lot of activity recently. I'm glad you are here, I think having some fresh perspective and energy will make a big difference!

I think there are many ways we can add value to the SolSeed pages and community here on AboutUs. What would you like to see happen next?

Warm Regards,
Brandon 00:39, 12 January 2008 (PST)

edit Content from Omidyar

Hi Kevin,

I've got the entire group from omidyar archived an saved on my computer. Unfortunately it's on my computer in Portland Oregon rather than the laptop I have here in Lahore Pakistan. Soooo, it will be at least January 25 before I am back in Portland and have some time to get started on copying the content over. In the meantime, your ethusiasm sparked something in me and I spent an hour or two on the pages in the SolSeedMovement cluster. Check 'em out :-)

Brandon 11:26, 14 January 2008 (PST)