Earth Plexus
Hemispheres
In the Fall of 1982 for some reason that escapes me now, I decided to enter the Science Fair at my High School in New Mexico. I had recently become aware of neuroscientist Roger W. Sperry who, as Wikipedia sites, “…discovered that by cutting the corpus callosum, a large bundle of fibers that connects the right and left hemispheres of the brain, he could reduce seizures in patients with epilepsy. The results of these experiments also revealed that the two sides of the brain performed different tasks.”
His work originated the split-brain model showing that the Right and Left hemispheres of the human brain handle different functions. And even have different personalities. The Left Brain like a buttoned-up nerd and the Right Brin a flighty hippie.
Our understanding of these two hemispheres have moved away from those stereotypes of course and the latest research asserts a Holonomic Model of brain function, but Sperry’s work was seminal in our journey to understand how our thinker thinks.
At that time (1982) I was a subscriber to Omni Magazine where I learned about The Brain/Mind Bulletin (B/MB). This monthly 8-page newsletter reported on leading-edge research in neuroconsciousness, neuromysticism, neuropsychology and every topic a high school kid who’s side hustle was being a shrooming psychonaut could ask for. That little pamphlet would play a bigger role in my life eight years later but in 1982, it sparked an idea for a Science Fair project that would alter or confirm the whole trajectory of my life.
For the past 20 years I’ve been a National Creative Director and have learned a lot about and even taught branding. I say this now as cover because 37 years ago I titled my Science Fair project, “Balancing the Hemispheres Through Directed Imagination”.
Today I may have branded it using an easier mythical name relating to an archetypal brain function or something catchier but hey, at least it was descriptive because that’s what the hypothesis was. An improved Problem Solving method produce by balancing the two hemispheres of our brains using exercises that directed our imagination.
Balancing the Hemispheres Through Directed Imagination
In short, I took a classroom of students and voted on a Problem to solve. In their case it was the need to better ventilate students' cigarette smoke from E-Hall. (It was the 80s).
I had them fill out an exhaustive questionnaire that determined whether they were dominated by their Left Brained buttoned-up nerd or Right Brained flighty hippy. Then I segregated the two groups and assigned discussions based on their dominant hemispheres. The Left Brained group worked on the analytical, administrative and engineering considerations needed to solve the problem and the Right Brained group worked on the Public Relations campaign to raise consciousness with students as well as some of the general designs of how this ventilator would look.
Prior to assigning these tasks to each group, a series of exercises were introduced that enhanced their dominant faculties. Word problems and logic puzzles for the Left, association and creative puzzles for the Right.
There were many ancillary realizations that occurred during this experiment like how well Right Brained people worked together and how competitive Left Brainers were. It was also clear how skewed our educational system is toward the Left Brainers who include far more Straight A students and although the Right Brainers collaborated brilliantly and produced far more results and ideas had lower GPA’s, carried more guitar cases and wore more Van Halen T-shirts than the other group.
The next part of the process was reintegrating the two groups to produce a full solution that would be presented to the school Administration. This last step warrants a whole other article but I felt it important to give you the background because this Science Fair project is the source of Earth Plexus.
“Balancing the Hemispheres Through Directed Imagination" did pretty well. It won at the school and placed at the city and State Science Fair. Although there were no exploding volcanoes or boiling flasks of liquid or mice in mazes, it was different enough to get a nod from judges, a special award from the US Air Force (for some reason) and a few scholarship offers from New Mexico universities.
I chose the scholarship from Eastern New Mexico University from the Psychology Department because it was a Work Study offer which meant they would pay me to continue this research.
Tuesday Nights
Long story longer, that next year, after having settled into school I launched the research project. The first task was to gather a group of twelve students. I chose a diverse group of friends and acquaintances from various studies and backgrounds to meet every Tuesday night in the Psych Department conference room.
The next step was to decide on a problem to solve. Now, since this group was hand selected for diversity and because I found them each uniquely intriguing as opposed to a randomly hobbled together class of high schoolers, the problem wasn’t some mundane ventilation issue. This was the early 1980s, the Reagan era and the biggest problem at the time was the breakdown of Nuclear Talks between the US and the USSR.
The younger generation today isn’t aware of how looming the threat of nuclear holocaust was for Generation X. Walking to elementary school in Albuquerque, a top five Soviet target because of Sandia National Labs there, meant periodically being reminded of that target with wailing siren drills every other Tuesday morning. That threat was constant, dull and ever-present. So when these kids went to college and were asked to think of a problem to solve, it was top of mind.
So top of mind in fact that the rest of that Tuesday evening and every Tuesday evening afterward was spent discussing solutions to that problem. Although “Balancing the Hemispheres Through Directed Imagination" was forgotten one hour into that first evening, Earth Plexus was launched that night and is still top of mind today.
The solution we came up with was simple, increase communication with young people in the US and USSR immediately so that when we were older and in positions of power (now) we will have developed a relationship that would thwart nuclear holocaust.
Digital Solutions for an Analog Problem
I spent the next few years traveling around the world preaching the EP gospel and gathering GenXers internationally to share ideas, learn about different cultures and unveiling common human values and concerns. Our network spanned nine countries on four continents, produced a periodical newsletter and TV show filmed in Los Angeles and simulcast to universities and on Public Radio stations.
Then the internet came along and changed everything. Suddenly everyone anywhere could communicate about anything anytime and so the EP platform was now obsolete. Thankfully.
With that cause “to increase communication amongst the youth internationally" solved, Earth Plexus was shelved leaving me open to use the TV show and assets to focus on other topics that intrigued me; neuroconsciousness, ET’s, psychonauts, new media. So “EPTV” became “Unearthed” and while the internet took over EP’s objective, I deep dived into the topics that sparked my Science Fair project. In fact, at that time, 1991, I was employed by The Brain/Mind Bulletin and was the Media Relations Rep for its publisher, Marilyn Ferguson, author of the Brain Revolution and The Aquarian Conspiracy. Full circle.
Identify, Commodify, Package
In another article, The US6 Agenda, I outline a parallel part of my life that describes the trajectory setting events that led me into AI and ET. But this piece is specific to Earth Plexus and why it has resurfaced as the organization I feel is the most appropriate for the current and urgent need: to increase communication amongst the youth internationally. Not to thwart Nuclear Holocaust, but to coalesce all Earthlings immediately to identify our intrinsic value, commodify and package it for trade in the Galactic Economy.
Everything that led up to its birth that Tuesday evening in 1983, the Science Fair project, the research of Roger W. Sperry, The Brain/Mind Bulletin, Omni Magazine, shrooms, the US Air Force special recognition award and everything since, EPTV, the internet, Unearthed, Artificial Intelligence, my TEDx Talk (Open Source Mode) and more makes the reemergence of Earth Plexus as the governing body for us to coalesce as a Planetary Tribe right.
By organizing EP as a MetaNetwork of organizations across the planet focused on six metacatagories in each region, Education, Arts, SciTech, Business, Media and Politics, we can identify, commodify and package our most valuable assets as humans; imagination, ingenuity and innovative thought. It is a rare commodity in this galaxy. Perhaps this talent was born of fear-based instincts and sharpened by survival traits but whatever caused it has served us well and now, if we dull that fear to cautiousness and direct our imagination toward possibilities instead of threats, we may very well step over the threshold to a new Golden Age and take a seat at a very high table as graduates of the Earth and an entry level position of a cosmic consciousness.
The Apostle’s New Adversary
So, the Earth Plexus gospel remains. The only thing that has changed is the Adversary. It used to be the Soviets were the “Other". Now our Adversary is assuming we all are.
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About Tom Ross
Tom Ross Author / AI Metaphysician
Tom Ross Producer’s Reel on Vimeo
I was asked recently to put together the above reel of projects for a Producer gig I was up for. I didn’t get the gig but I did get a glimpse of my mission. That reel was the first time I saw my bigger projects strung together in a row and for the first time I identified a common thread in my efforts: Strategic Inclusivity. And looking back further to my high school Science Fair project designed to identify then integrate Right/Left Brain dominant students to my TEDx Talk decades later about Coalescing teams through empathy, I now know my core mission here is about identifying key differences, enhancing those then integrating them into an inclusive and more efficient team.
So, no matter what industry or department I find myself in, my algorithm is designed to make that space more inclusive and efficient. And today, with the threat and promise of AI/Automation on human workstyles, my skillset makes me perfectly poised to help integrate People and Machines. I have proven methods to help people identify the unique human skills that cannot be automated but can be enhanced when augmented by AI. So that’s what I do when not looking for a new gig. When I became the National Creative Director for the 2nd largest radio group in America, I was compelled to design a system to find, test and scale the best ideas from the quietest corners in hundreds of stations across the country. I later shared a module of this system in a TEDx Talk called Open Source Mode.
Earlier in my career, I produced creative assets for namedrops like IBM, Microsoft, and Styx and have Creative Consulted for good works like the Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute and Sir Bob Geldof’s youbloom.com. While Director of Marketing for an internet firm, I testified before Congress in support of The AntiSpam Bill. Soon thereafter, the Governor of California appointed me to a Department of Consumer Affairs board. My novel US6 is designed to entertain, enlighten and enlist Human and Artificial Super-Intelligent readers into the fight against Modern Slavery. This research lead to my becoming the Director of Sentient Rights Advocacy in the U.S. Transhumanist Party and President and Chief Executive Officer for TAFFDs, an Africa-based Futurists’ Think-tank. And yes, in all those groups my Algorithm still seeks Inclusivity and efficiency.
