Original and current incarnations of the Synthesis Institute

In 1992, I and a few friends and acquaintences decided to start Synthesis Institute as an educational not-for-profit (501(c)(3)) corporation. We did so in early 1993, and in fact gained an international list of charter members of over 100 people and published volume 1 of The Synthesist, our journal. However, unfortunately, almost immediately all core participants took jobs (me with a startup) that took nearly all our free time. For about a year or so, we limped along with occasional board meetings and planning sessions, but had no time to execute the thoughtful plans we made. By 1996, we'd lost all momentum, and Synthesis Institute mostly lay fallow until this year (2008); we took just enough time to keep our records and not-for-profit status intact.

In 2008, two of the principals, David Gilliam and myself, suddenly found ourselves with enough free time to both start a for-profit partnership exploiting synthesis principles (SynOvation Solutions, http://www.synovationsolutions.com/) and to countenance revitalizing Synthesis Institute. As part of that revitalization, we are starting this blog, re-contacting original members, dusting off some old writing for publication elsewhere, starting a list of "synthesis principles" that help to define this meta-science, and more.