Message from Pleiades
J. P. Moody with John Perkins
Jenny is the US’s youngest senator. Disillusioned by a contentious Congress, she takes a break from Washington and travels to Tikal, an ancient Mayan city that is designed in the image of the Constellation Pleiades.
At the urging of a shaman, she spends two terrifying nights alone, deep in the jaguar-infested jungle.
On the first night, perched high atop a two-thousand-year-old pyramid, she hears a voice – otherworldly, haunting – that takes her on a journey through the mysteries of human history. Could it truly be a voice from the Pleiades, as Mayan legend foretells?
On the second night, the shaman guides her to the “Monster’s Mouth,” a dark, foreboding passageway that is said to be a portal to higher consciousness. Once inside, the voice returns, delivering a message that offers to reverse the self-destructive course of modern civilization.
This riveting novel by J.P Moody and New York Times bestselling author John Perkins weaves ideas from his Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, books on Indigenous cultures, and other nonfiction books into a heart-pounding adventure story that challenges readers to rethink humanity’s relationship to the universe and the future.
Are we AI?
A Conversation with ChatGPT on AI Current and Future
Michael Ruhl Frank, Ph.D.
In thinking about AI, I’ve become increasingly intrigued with where it might lead. And I’ve wondered if, in fact, it might eventually lead back to us. Are we actually AI? I decided maybe having the perspective of AI from an AI would be illuminating.
This book is therefore framed as a conversation with ChatGPT. My goal in this work is to help non-practitioners understand the current state, and potential future, of AI as portrayed by an AI. My hope is through understanding my readers will become more comfortable with this technology, and the promise of its potential.
My questions are designed to explore some of the boundaries of AI and to lead ChatGPT to address where AI development currently stands, and what the future might hold – including some of the many uses, and potential challenges and concerns.
Models, Metaphors, and Intuition
How we think, learn and communicate
Michael Ruhl Frank, Ph.D.
My goal in this writing is to promote social consciousness and increase awareness and understanding of the “human condition” that we all share, and that ultimately binds us all in our future, and our fate. I endeavor to pursue that goal with a series of discussions on how we think, how we learn, and how we communicate against the backdrop of our own individual consciousness, and to do so in an accessible manner. These discussions will leverage similarities of the human brain to neural networks in computing and artificial intelligence – as it has become increasingly important recently to understand these concepts.
Axioms on Leadership
A Companion Guide for Developing Leaders
Michael Ruhl Frank, Ph.D.
Teaching someone to lead is like teaching someone to swim – you can show them a movie or give them a book to read, but if you throw them in a pool they drown anyway. You must get in the pool with them and support them while they flounder until they finally relax and float. What’s the difference between leadership and management? Clearly you need to do both, and in fact without good management skills you are much less likely to become a good leader. This book is intended to be a companion for people learning to lead. What I hope to do in this book is first, to present clearly and concisely some of the challenges of leadership, and in doing so reassure you that what you may be experiencing has likely been faced before and is not unique to you. Second, to provide a basic framework and tools for helping to manage those challenges – thereby freeing you to focus on the more important task of leading. This framework is divided into execution and strategy. Here execution is focused on developing a management system, decision- making, and financial acumen. The strategy discussion is focused on taking strategy to action, leading change, and relationship management. Finally, and most importantly, I provide a section on leading people and introduce the axioms on leadership – a set of insights distilled from my experience that will serve as a companion as you develop into a better leader. The approach taken here is intentionally brief and to the point, and my hope is to provide practical knowledge. Many of the topics may warrant additional reading. I leave that to the discretion of the reader, and where relevant I’ve added references to aid in that endeavor. The approach is also intended to serve as a companion – that is, to provide the developing leader somewhere to turn for advice.
