Pirates, Voyages and Tech Innovation

My name is Liam. I'm a 41 year old technology and social entrepreneur from Snowdonia, Wales. I’m a scientist by education and a spiritualist by nature, and I believe equally in the importance of realism and optimism.

_{Me at play and at work. The necktie is almost unheard of, but it's not uncommon to find me in a jacket}

Here on Steemit I plan to commit my thoughts to the blockchain on life, travel, and my adventures in business and innovation. I’m looking to raise awareness in the projects I'm working on, meet collaborators and spread enthusiasm for the idea that small groups of people can work together in ways that haven’t been done before and change the world. It’s time for the new paradigm.

7 years ago, while doing a PhD in Computational Topology, I went to a property auction and bought a Chapel in the Snowdonia mountains, Wales. It’s a very large and beautiful building with great views to Ynys Mon and the Irish Sea. Chapels are not in demand here, the hammer fell at £75,000 and changed my life forever.


_{The Chapel just before I bought it}

Except for 1 year working in medical IT in Tokyo 2003/4, I’d only been either a traveller or student in my life till then. There was an offer of work writing finance code in city when I finished my MSc in Physics 2003, but I didn’t give it serious thought. Subsequently, I spent my 20s almost always completely broke, but no regrets. I was anxiously aware our global environmental situation by the mid 90s, and all I saw in the city was greed, ignorance and a non interest in our planetary situation.

_{Me and a colleague during at a nomikai when working in Medical IT in Japan 2004}

Instead, I went in search of answers and a purpose. It took me long time to find to really find one but when I bought the Chapel my life changed. From that point on I stopped being a dreamer that felt powerless to change anything in the world, and started to see the potential of things I could actually do and that didn’t involve selling out.

After years of travelling, I decided I need a base and came back to the UK to do an MSc in Computer Science, and then started a PhD. Some months after buying the Chapel, I took a job in the Computer Science at the university, and while doing that started a software company with some students. Creating the company was another event that made things happen. Suddenly in conversation ‘I had a company’ and before I knew it I had projects. Over the next few years, life became an incredible roller coaster, or -- now that I’ve discovered the beauty of the naval metaphors in innovation-- like sailing on the high seas.

I dropped the PhD, which wasn’t going to change the world, in order to spend more time on the company. There was a lot for me to learn, and the waters were frequently choppy and sometimes the down right stormy or infested with Sharks. Around 2016 I got shipwrecked and there were points when I wondered if spiritually, and even physically, I might not survive. But after a time I was helped off the metaphorical shoreline and back on to my feet.

Today the Chapel is the base of Astralship.org. “An optimal collaboration space for highly talented people”. In its current state, it’s kind startup garage hackbase base with a difference. It’s quite a bit larger than any garage for a start, it’s also a former Calvinist-Methodist chapel in a remote location that we’re converting into an innovation pirate ship.

_{The Chapel 3 years ago - under construction}

It can be an amazing space for creative teams of 10 or so to get together and work with very low costs and amazing freedom. For the frost hardy, our ship can sail all year round, though the rest will have to be fair weather sailors until we have the funds to turn our prototype ship into the ultimate creative journeying hyper-dimensional vehicle.

Since March I'm in Thailand with @astralaglae. We’re in search of collaborators, fellow planet pirates and innovation adventures. We’re also video documenting our trip. While previously I was posting to Youtube I'm going to move over to posting on Dtube first.

This is part one, which was made almost a month ago. Hopefully you'll agree the production value goes up from here. There are 4 other parts already made. Soon we’ll be flying to India and heading for the himalayas so more on the way. I'm going to keep writing and keep posting.

Let me know your thoughts. Can this dynamic adventure concept work?