Systems engineer at IBM. VP at Tandem. CTO EMEA at Microsoft. Now building tools for thinking clearly about the world we share. Reader of 5,000+ books. In memory of Gregory.
"For Gregory James Ball, 1990–2022 —
who already knew."
In memoriam
Eight interconnected sites addressing the epistemic preconditions for democratic self-governance.
Founding-era through modern American political texts, translated into plain English. The arguments that designed American democracy — restored to urgency.
A clinical diagnosis of twelve structural pathologies in American democracy. Where the author speaks, without pretense of neutrality.
226 feeds from 40+ countries. The world seen through many windows — not to achieve false balance, but to understand what a single editorial tradition misses.
A curated knowledge graph — personally vouched, designed to outlast its curator. Not a recommendation algorithm. An autobiography of a mind.
The tools of systems thinking made accessible. Feedback loops, leverage points, second-order effects. The reasoning layer beneath the ecosystem.
Personal financial intelligence. Quality-first covered call strategy. Volatility is the market paying you for your conviction.
The world's hardest benchmark for LLM stateful reasoning. 770 points. 41 treasures. No LLM has solved it. The magic word is XYZZY. Nothing happens.
A love of numbers — number theory, statistics, group theory, S-curves. Mathematics as epistemology. Named for al-Khwārazmī, whose name gave us the word algorithm.
Organizations doing the work I cannot do alone.
aclu.org
actblue.com
endcitizensunited.org
fairvote.org
savetheredwoods.org
represent.us
brennancenter.org
commoncause.org
opensecrets.org
epi.org
bfi.org
freepress.net
A clinical assessment of how American democracy is failing — named precisely, because naming the mechanism is the precondition for any coalition for reform. Each pathology has an organization working to address it. Full analysis at rigwatch.org.
| Category | Pathology | Take Action |
|---|---|---|
| Constitutional | Citizens United — Monetized Democracy Dark money has purchased American politics wholesale. |
End Citizens United → Represent.us → |
| Constitutional | The Politicized Court Lifetime appointments, no ethics code, captured by ideology. |
Fix the Court → Demand Justice → |
| Constitutional | The Imperial Presidency Executive power has expanded beyond any founder's intention. |
American Oversight → POGO → |
| Constitutional | The Impeachment Trap The threshold is set too high. The tool cannot be used when needed. |
CREW → Brennan Center → |
| Constitutional | No Barrier to Office for Convicted Felons The founders assumed the disqualification would be obvious. It is not. |
States United → ACLU → |
| Constitutional | Term Limits Absent Career politicians entrench themselves, capture committees, resist reform. |
U.S. Term Limits → Common Cause → |
| Accountability | Collapse of the Information Ecosystem Local journalism gutted. Algorithmic outrage fills the vacuum. |
Free Press → Local News Initiative → |
| Accountability | The Moral Turpitude Gap Behavior that disqualifies in every other profession is normalized in Congress. |
CREW → |
| Accountability | Congressional Privilege Congress exempts itself from laws it imposes on others. Healthcare. Pay. Oversight. |
OpenSecrets → GovTrack → |
| Economic | Antitrust Failure Monopoly power has been permitted to grow across every sector of the economy. |
Open Markets → AELP → |
| Economic | Corporate Taxation The effective tax rate has been engineered toward zero for the largest corporations. |
Americans for Tax Fairness → |
| Economic | Compensation Ratios CEO-to-worker pay: 20:1 in 1965. 281:1 today. The gap is a policy choice, not a market outcome. |
Economic Policy Institute → AFL-CIO PayWatch → |
Writers, thinkers, and resources I return to. Curated, not comprehensive.
A few of the organizations where I either made a difference, they made a difference, or both.
People and organizations whose work I follow, support, and in some cases helped build.
I spent thirty years in technology — systems engineering at IBM, Vice President at Tandem Computers, CTO for Europe, Middle East, and Africa at Microsoft. I've sat in rooms where decisions were made that affected millions of people, and I've watched what happens when the systems meant to constrain those decisions fail.
I've read more than 5,000 books over a lifetime. I hold a contemplative practice background including seminary training and Zen Buddhist study. I have thought seriously about how civilizations transmit what they have learned — and how quickly they forget.
The projects I've built in retirement are my answer to what I see happening. The Locke Project, Rigwatch, Newshound, Annotary, Sumarium — these are not websites. They are tools for thinking clearly about the world we share — at a moment when the quality of our collective thinking may determine whether civilization survives.
I live in Huntington Beach, California. I am 70 years old and in a hurry. The Doomsday Clock stands at 85 seconds to midnight.
Everything I build is dedicated to the memory of Gregory James Ball, 1990–2022,
who already knew. And to David — who is here.