Robert Shepherd

Who am I? Can I get back to you on that when I figure it out? "Eclectic" isn't all that informative an answer, but it does at least describe my wide variety of interests and occupations over the years. Work has been an integral part of my life, three decades in high-tech, which makes "techie" or "geek" a meaningful way of describing myself. Outside of work, I've been a lifelong space cadet, an avid reader of, mostly, science fiction, with a leavening of reading from fields ranging from psychology to evolutionary biology to politics to history to...well, just about everything but romance novels.

I wrote the software that powers the HabitableZone, so that's one practical reason I spend a lot of time here. But another, just as important, is a family tradition of arguing about current events and politics, incessantly and regularly. I credit my stepmother with honing my skills, since she's a gifted debater who can take either side of an argument and win. I like to say that she could convert a Jesuit; and so I was flattered when a priest of my acquaintance once observed (after an argument, of course) that I should have been a Jesuit.

Out of all those influences has come a fascination with the "emergent phenomenon of community" I see on the HabitableZone. The technological environment I created is a factor, both as an environment and also because technology is so fundamental to human nature. We create it and shape it, and in using technology it shapes us. I see that every day at the Zone.

In the words of "Ambassador Delenn" of the Minbari:

Humans share one unique quality: They build communities....

...everywhere humans go, they create communities out of diverse and sometimes hostile populations. It is a great gift, and a terrible responsibility. One that cannot be abandoned.

--Ambassador Delenn of the Minbari
Babylon 5, Episode 38, “And now a word from our sponsor...”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
(more...)

I consider my responsibilities here to include not just keeping the server and software running, but to nurture and protect the community of people. The HabitableZone is much more than an Internet name, and software running on a computer; it's the people who have built this place, message by message--over 100,000 messages in under two years.

Here's to you, Zoners!