Before I can get these papers written, I have a story to tell.  I’m not supposed to put the backstory into technical articles about my idea, but I seem unable to describe generic basis values without explaining how I got there.

The concept of generic basis values hit immediately upon understanding the issue.  It took me years to work out the math to do it though.  But it’s been nearly that long that I’ve been trying to explain why we need to change a fundamental aspect of engineering design computations in order to solve this problem because it isn’t a problem for the guys who do the engineering.  It’s a problem for the guys who try to manufacture their designs in a 21st century factory.

The system worked okay, not great but okay for twentieth century factories and engineers.  But the changes to materials and factories have combined to bring us to less and less satisfactory results until we’ve arrived at a place where our current system can’t be effectively extended anymore.  We have to change the theoretical underpinnings before we can improve.  This is analogous to the change from propellers to jets.

I can only explain why through a lengthy back story that begins with my career as an engineer.  It’s also inseparable from worldview which is only understood through my childhood upbringing, my path through life, my struggles and failures, my values and priorities.   So all that personal stuff is part of the story I need to tell, but doesn’t belong in my papers about generic basis values.