"I currently live in Christchurch, New Zealand. The following is a short rundown of some of the more interesting parts of my life...

In 1988 I became a sound and lighting engineer--operating sound systems and light-shows for bands and other productions. Through my contacts in that industry, I changed profession and became a nightclub DJ in 1990. My genre of preference is House, but I also have a range of Hard house and Trance in my collection. At this point in time, my DJ'ing consists in live mix shows on Metropolis radio--a local station broadcasting on 88.2fm. I also run a DJ site, which contains mix house music sets.

During the daylight hours of the early 1990's, I ran a computer graphics business, which involved the production of animated cartoon commercials for a local network of video screens that I installed in various public locations. The business also gave me the opportunity to produce a 30 minute long animated Nursery Rhyme video (for children under 5 years old), which was marketed throughout New Zealand and Australia by the Hughes Leisure Group.

In 1995 I enrolled at the University of Canterbury. Originally a computer science major, I fell victim to the seductive influence of philosophy, which prompted me to change my course of study. I completed my Masters degree in 1999, and was employed by the Department of Philosophy as a teaching and research assistant until 2002. I am still associated with the department as their webmaster. My philosophical interests include philosophy of mind and cognitive science, memetics, cosmology and the study of the universe, evolutionary theories, and the philosophy of technology. A number of my articles on science and philosophy have been listed on this site.

I currently spend much of my time designing and programming web-based Video Games. These 'neo-arcade' games are written in javascript and can be played in any standard web browser. I have always been a fan of video games. My first attempt at programming games was on a primitive Sinclair home computer in 1984. I quickly progressed to an Acorn computer (they built the famous BBC machines of the mid 1980's), and it was with that system that I learned most of the techniques used to design games. After 1987 I took a long break from videogame design until 1995 at which time I created a Dos based game named Orbs. A few years later I became interested in animation effects on Internet sites using dynamic HTML, and it was from there that I jumped right back in to writing games. You can check out the production history of my games by visiting the Production page.

During the daylight hours I teach at a Christchurch secondary school called "Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti". This is a special character school which is based on the Inquiry Learning model. Students are encouraged to pursue topics of individual interest. These topics are researched independently by students. My role at Unlimited includes: facilitating entrepreneurship, teaching game programming, running an introduction to philosophy, and teaching an introduction to DJ style mixing.

I am currently working on three goals. The first is in relation to videogames. My goal is to further the resurging popularity of arcade-style games. There is a growing view that modern console games are lacking some of the basic features of gameplay that once made videogames exciting and popular. The adrenelin boosting action is what is missing. I am attempting to design new games based on the arcade model. Gameplay is kept simple and fast.

My second goal revolves around my musical interests. I plan to continue DJ'ing. I would like to grow the live mix show on Metropolis and establish a regular audience. My genre is house, and I hope to continue to grow my music collection to a point at which people will know that whenever they listen to me play, they will enjoy all the songs. In short, I'd like to grow a reputation around the music that I choose to play.

My third goal is one of science and knowledge. My goal is to move philosophy out of the corridors of academia, and introduce it to a larger audience. My hope is that people will learn how to think in philosophical terms. In doing so, people will be able to think rationally and exercise skepticism when faced with everyday concerns. This will allow all people to question authority, ask for reasons before accepting claims, and seek a better understanding of the world and the universe. As people become skilled in this way of thinking, they will look at the bigger picture of the world. With any luck we will see a change in humanity's collective attitude. This change will see people take care of eachother and the fragile planet that we all call home." -- Brent Silby 2001-2006