About the Author

Dr. Richard Crist received his doctorate in philosophy from the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center in 2001. He has taught philosophy and logic in New York City-at Hunter College and City College-and has taught professional ethics at Ulster County Community College. Crist's doctoral dissertation was titled Unity and Variety in Painting. In this dissertation he maintained that long-esteemed paintings are long esteemed because they contain a balance of unity and variety among their abstract elements. More recently he has developed an interest in collective intelligence and has created a system called the "Truth Engine" to help maximize it. By encouraging people to use the Truth Engine, Crist intends to play a part in eliminating those existing oppositions that are made manifest in public controversy among good people. His goal is to deal with such discord not by ignoring it or by facilitating compromise but by resolving it through the revelation-via Truth-Engine argument-of what's really true, what's really good, and what's really beautiful. Empowered with more and more knowledge of this type, good people will become more able to bring happiness to the world. Crist is an artist and has worked as an illustrator for Analog Magazine and Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. Recently, he has used Blender, the 3D modeling and animation software, and has written a step-by-step guide to the program called Blender Steps. Crist lives in upstate New York near the Hudson River.