Information about Michael P. Byron and the Infinity's Rainbow series.
Click on picture for full sized image.
When I was working on my dissertation, I developed a computer program to model how civilizations arise, compete and cooperate with each other, and then win or lose according to the strategies that they have chosen. Once in awhile, the program plotted one nation that garnered a disproportionate level of power over the others, and essentially ran amok until it collapsed, taking the entire simulated world system down with it. At the time, I thought that this was an anomaly but not something that could actually happen in real life. I scratched my head over the possibilities that it presented, and then went back to my dissertation. However, that scenario played itself over and over again in my mind in the following years, and I decided to do a historical study of how civilizations collapse.
But instead of writing about the past, I found myself writing about the present and the future, and Infinity's Rainbow was born.
Infinity's Rainbow grew out of the coming together of several factors:
1) My Ph.D. research into what I call "crisis driven evolution." This refers to change in human societies occurring suddenly in response to existential change. I discuss this idea comprehensively in my book.
2) My political activities following the December 2000 awarding of the U.S. Presidency to G. W. Bush, in explicit violation of the U.S. Constitution by the U.S. Supreme Court. How, I wondered could such a thing happen? Why had the institutionalized checks and balances of our political system failed? I discuss the answers to this query fully in the book as well.
3) My growing alarm during the past decade about the accelerating pace of climate change across the world. This too is fully discussed and explained in the book.
4) My increasing unease about peak oil and the precariousness of our civilization's prospects for maintaining a sufficient energy supply. Again, I discuss this set of issues comprehensively in the book.
I had planned to extend my Dissertation research into a popular book which would lay out my theory of crisis driven evolution and then demonstrate how the process had operated across human history in a series of historical case studies. However, as factors 2-4 above became increasingly important in my thinking, I began to re-think the direction of my book. Finally by the end of 2004, with my Congressional campaign behind me, I began researching and writing Infinity's Rainbow.
Two related works are in the process of being written at present:
Foundations of Infinity's Rainbow, develops a universal theory of why civilizations collapse and then applies this theory to the 5,000 year long history of civilizational collapses across the planet. Finally, it applies my findings to our present day world-spanning civilization. This book in some ways is similar in theme and organization to the book which I had originally planned to write 6-7 years ago, before the rush of events changed everything.
The Path Through Infinity's Rainbow follows directly from where Infinity's Rainbow: The Politics of Energy, Climate, and Globalization leaves off. The Path Through Infinity's Rainbow addresses the fundamental tactical and strategic questions of individual and group survival in the context of creating a civilization which is humane and sustainable. It is about how to transform ourselves, our communities, and the world.
I hope that you find these works to be useful and informative.
Sincerely,
Mike Byron
October 13, 2006
Oceanside, CA
Brief bio of Michael P. Byron:
I have a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine. I teach all aspects of Political Science and Political Economy in local colleges in the San Diego area. I have published a number of peer-reviewed professional papers, and have presented many papers at international conferences. I have also written numerous newspaper opinion pieces. I am a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Sociocybernetics. I was the Democratic Party’s candidate for United States Congress in California’s 49th Congressional District in 2004. In 2002, I ran as a write-in candidate upon discovering that the Republican incumbent, Darrell Issa, had no major-party challenger.
I am married to Ramona Byron, and we live in Oceanside, CA. We are both Navy veterans.
An extended "intellectual autobiography" of my early years (up to age 21) can be read by clicking on the link just below.
My Curriculum Vitae ("CV"), an academic resumé, can be read by clicking on the link just below.
