I was raised in Decatur where I grew strong and straight, if slightly asthmatic and extremely nearsighted, nourished by Catholic schooling and ADM. I thought myself destined to become either a priest or an engineer, not really understanding that in a certain sense, they are the same thing (as Asimov demonstrated so wonderfully in Foundation). But when I was 16, I cracked under the strain of discovering that this regime of human mastery, applying technocratic solutions to the problems of the soul and the material world, has its limits. For these past ten years, then, I have sought a new understanding of what it means to live rightly and work meaningfully when absolution for our sins cannot be found and every technological innovation brings with it the same problem - namely, we human beings can only see the same old ends no matter how shiny and new the means.

I haven’t succeeded yet, but I think I’m getting a little closer.