About Me

Well, the first thing about me that's relevant here - I'm a non-theist Quaker. That means that I believe in Quaker methods and principles, but without reference to any God or gods, and really very little that anyone would say is paranormal or supernatural, though I have a few 'odd ideas'.

There's more to my story here than that, though. I wasn't raised a Quaker - I'm what's traditionally called a 'convinced' Quaker, someone who learned about Quaker teachings and came to subscribe to them, usually as an adult. Before that, I never really identified with any religion, and I could never see the point in anthropomorphic gods of any sort, no powerful beings with the power and inclination to muck about with the world as we know it. What it came down to is that I didn't see any point speculating on 'things beyond our ken', like gods or life after death, as there's no way for us to investigate them or learn about them. Pascal's Wager being meaningless in a world of plural suggested beliefs, I decided the only logical thing is to reject all claims and explanations of the things I'd realised were unknowable. I suppose that made me agnostic, but not the fluffy 'haven't decided yet' sort of agnosticism - absent seriously extraordinary evidence, nothing was going to convince me; as regards the kind of questions I'm talking about, nothing has yet.

The rest of the story of my spiritual journey (and doesn't that sound pretentious) will come in posts: more details of my early thoughts and explorations, how I found a spiritual home, and what's happened there.

If you care about the rest of it, I'm a bit of a geek. I play board games and RPGs, and I like my computers. I've been floating around online since the mid-90s, mostly under something close to my real name - I never thought anything I was doing was worth hiding my identity. I've a bachelor's degree in Mathematics and Computer Science, a Master's with Distinction in Advanced Computer Science, and I'm working part-time towards a Master's in Educational Research; at the same time, I'm trying to get the ball rolling with a start-up with my partner, Value-Aware Internet Development & Consultancy. We're hoping to offer a competitive alternative to charities, non-profits and other good causes, giving them design services, hosting, support and programming at a price that's realistic for them. It's slow starting, but we're getting somewhere.

As you may have guessed from that, I'm a bit of a programmer. I work in many languages, and I'm having fun modding for Civilization V, though it's hard to find the time. Java's my strongest suit, but there's a lot of strings to my programming bow, and I love to learn more. Actually, that's probably the most determining feature about me - I love to learn more, in any context.

Politically, I consider myself liberal to socialist, very much on the left (and I think that all means about the same thing either side of the Atlantic); I believe in equal rights and equal treatment, and I consider myself a feminist (and I have some understanding of feminist discourse as well). I'll defend my beliefs, but I won't ignore evidence or rational disputation.

I hope you enjoy reading what I have to say, and if anyone learns from it (though goodness knows what they would learn) I'll be very pleased.