About Robert John Morton

My formal education had a scientific bias, my main subjects being mathematics and physics. These made me curious about the universe, causing me to think deeply about how it was structured and sustained. I pondered endlessly on the laws that governed all things — from the vastness of the galaxies to the smallest known elements of energy and matter.

After a brief time in electrical research, I entered a career in computer software in which I spent 10 years doing programming, systems analysis and technical writing for 3 multinationals. I then ran my own software development and services business for a further 15 years.

My interest then turned towards the earth's biosphere, including the land and the weather. I became a keen student of conservation and economic methods and systems that supported the sustainable use of terrestrial resources. This inspired me to study intensively the current global usage and productivity of land, which in turn led me to formulate many alternative methods and technologies for providing food, clothing, shelter, water and energy. These methods and technologies provided energy from the sun, from wood and from bio-mass with alternative heat engines. They included methods that took into account localization issues for nutritional needs, climate, crop mix, types of machinery and also the recipes and means for turning those crops into meals.

My background in scientific thought, expertise in systems development and interest in conservation, all crystallised into an ambition to create a conceptual specification for what I call a universal terrestrial dwelling. This is a home with all modern comforts, which can be set in any habitable part of the planet and operate independently of utility services, gaining all human needs directly and sustainably from the natural environment with minimal impingement. I also grew increasingly sensitive to the unjustifiable poverty and disparity among the inhabitants of our planet. This inspired me to write a book, The Lost Inheritance, in which I venture to suggest a better and fairer way of turning work into wealth, based on an alternative concept of family and community, which is neither capitalist nor socialist.

Curriculum Vitae | Versão Português | About Dayse do Nascimento Silva, who has translated many of my essays into Portuguese.