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?
Welcome to Steem Community @astralliam! As a gentle reminder, please keep your master password safe. The best practise is to use your private posting key to login to Steemit when posting; and the private active key for wallet related transactions.
In the New Steemians project, we help new members of steem by education and resteeeming their articles. Get your articles resteemed too for maximum exposure. You can learn more about it here: https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@gaman/new-steemians-project-launch
Welcome to Steemit @astralliam!
I wish you much success and hope you find Steemit to be as rewarding and informative as I have.
Here are some links you might find useful.
Your stats on SteemNow
Your stats on SteemWorld
Your stats on SteemD
How to use Minnow Booster
How does Steemit actually work?
Introbot is hosted and managed with donations from @byColeman to help make your journey on Steemit be truly rewarding. Your feedback is always welcome so that we may improve this welcome message.
Oh yea, I have upvoted you and followed you. Many blessings from @introbot & @bycoleman
Nice to meet you Liam.
Nice to meet you! Speaking of which, are you in Bangkok? Because I am and if so we could actually meet. I'm flying to Kolkata tonight however.
I live in Nonthaburi, near Bangkok. We could meet but I'm not good English maybe sign language for talking. 55
Have a good trip Liam.
Your chapel is beautiful.
You received 1% of upvote for FREE from @rashley01! We upvote post for FREE to support the New Steemit author. Vote percentage is based on the Quality of the Content.
Follow me to get atleast 1 upvote on your post daily.
You can also Vote @rashley01 as your Steemit Witness
Read/Support my recent post here:
Travel Blog: Touch the Clouds at Mt. Ulap, Benguet!
Photo Contest: Beautiful Ferrari
Hello dearie..
Welcome to steemit, to interact and get to grow better on steemit, find your niche and be educated on steemit...do well to join us on our Steemschool discord channel using this link https://discord.gg/2F74XX9
Look forward to seeing you there.
Hi Liam welcome to the Steemit community. Here is a nice place to make friends, you'll enjoy it!
I'm following you, just follow me back! Have a nice day!
Selamat bergabung di steemit dan selamat telah menjadi bagian dari steemians
sounds good!.... Urdu?
Awesome read. I enjoyed reading how how you're turning that chapel into a pirate ship!
Seems like you're a highly intelligent human being that wants more out of life. I studied engineering but I feel like I needed more out of life than working a 9-5. That's why I live in China and pursue my interests whilst living here.
Nice to see you are here, man. Good luck!
welcome! nice to see you here. goodluck
Hey welcome to steemit, I really like your chappel! good decision to buy it) If you like epic cinematic photos and videos, follow my blog, it would be an honor to me! :)
muy bueno te felicito, saludos desde Venezuela la tierra del sol y el mar.
saludos desda Thailand!
You are a rock star. I love travel too. Love pirates hehe. I use Ubuntu. Love your photos and your confidence. Thanks for sharing. I'm Oatmeal Joey Arnold. You can call me Joey.
Thanks Joey, great to meet you on here. See you had adventure in Vietnam. Think you'll ever go back? I didn't make it on this trip but am determined to get there sometime.
I can always go back to Vietnam for so many reasons. I came back to America to maybe settle down, start a family, invest into my future, and make sure my family is ok and everything. But I could either visit Vietnam again or move there and never return to the USA ever again but it depends on many things.
Im impressed how your chapel is turning out :)
Thanks. It's taking shape. I'm looking to bootstrap a global network of hack bases. Want to tokenise.
Now in India, I've found a former maharaja's palace that needs work but has amazing potential. Just need to find those that share the vision and are up for this kind of adventure.
Welcome to community! I hope you're going to enjoy it! Good luck and steem on!
Nice turnout on this post Liam. You got quite a boost in your reputation because of it:) Cheers Man!
hey thanks, I'm just checking in with Steemit. Last 2 nights have been 5-7 hrs on 'sleeper' trains. India so far: Hard landing in Calcutta (guest house didn't exists no connectivity, slums), next day sick then filmed at a health org in Calcutta on Sat, then to Bodghaya to film opening of a school for lower cast kids Sunday and saw the Mahabodhi (temple on spot where buddha became enlightened), then back on the train this time to Varanasi. Another great day. Managed to take a ride on the river at sunset. Found very exiting potential for Astralship site in India. Don't want to give much more than that away in the blockchain comments for now.
I hope I can find 10x as much time as currently getting for writing. Maybe the Himalayas will provide the space thats needed, though also scheduling project work. Train to Delhi tomorrow night, then probably Dharamsala. @astralaglae will be working on the video docs.
Having the Go Pro has been awesome. Today walked 30 mins, through narrow streets. 60fps on the stabiliser. Looking forward to checking it out. At the end of the walk, arrived to a project. There by chance met I friend from Snowdonia that I didn't even know was travelling in India... Astral Pirate adventure is going amazing. I just need find some time to write about it.
This post was resteemed and upvoted by @anupbose and @apukb for Upvote and Resteem to 1,788+and 1019+ Followers Send 0.100 SBD or STEEM to @anupbose with URL in the Memo thanks to @astralliam for using my service.
CONGRATULATIONS YOUR PUBLICATION HAS BEEN SHARED BY @Untapentuoreja, will be seen by 2993 steemians.