John A. deVries II

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[edit] Also Known As...

Over the years John A. deVries II has used several different pseudonym including:

And of course...

  • The original BEAM Heretic


John has always been ready to don his flame retardant suit and challenge BEAM orthodoxy (if there can be such a thing). Quick to respond to claims that he believes are being too easily excepted, or given to much credibility, John has kept other BEAMers on their toes, forcing them to think and work through these claims until they have either been proven, modified, or set aside altogether.

He established the BEAM Heretic Web site, as a reference source, for group projects, and as a place to duscuss advanced topics. Unfortunately the site is no longer active, but thanks to Internet Archive, The Wayback Machine there is an archived copy of the original website that contains much of the original material. A link to the archive can be found below.

He also established the alt-beam email list on eGroups which was later taken over by Yahoo Groups. In his opening post He wrote: 

This is an alternative to the established BEAM mailing list, created to permit arbitrary, 
unmoderated discussions. It is owned by the owner of the BEAM Heretics site and as such will 
permit opinions not in keeping with the orthodoxy. There will be an attempt to avoid the 
extremely low-level "newbie" discussions that are more suited for the other mailing list.

As it turned out, the alt-beam list became what John described as: 

"An archive of 13946 messages, sadly without their attachments. Alas!"


John has described himself as "middle aged", an "Air Force brat", and a "computer weenie", who has "Lived all over the place (including Belgium for three years) until I was 28".


Besides [robotics]], He has listed photography, videography, electronics, software, music, social engineering, watching video, reading, and sleeping amongst his interests.

[edit] A Few Examples

The following are links to just a few items that John A. deVries II has wrtten over the years. Some are rants, some are helpfult tidbits, and some are just fun. It is recomended that you also read any related post to get a more complete understanding of these items:

[edit] Posts to the BEAM email group on Yahoo

[edit] Other Groups

John has established several other BEAM centered Yahoo discussion groups including:

  • spinalcolumn
    • John's Description: A discussion of the applicability of complex bicore (and other) networks to the creation of control systems (including artificial spinal cords) for robots. Discussion of concepts that aren't adequately handled by the "regular" BEAM emailing list. A place to discuss issues that would merely become flame wars on the regular list.
    • This list was created in recognition that the level of discussion on the regular list doesn't seem to get past the solarengine/walker/BEAMAnt level. Although that is a perfectly adequate venue for those discussions, it was felt that a place to discuss more technical issues was required.
    • Expect traffic on this list to be... um... chaotically periodic. A whole bunch of articles followed by silence followed by... perhaps one or two followed by... something no one can predict! <wide smile>
    • Although readership will always be open to everyone, it is possible that at some future date posting will be limited to members only. However, becoming a member will only require requesting to be one.
  • bicore
    • John's Description: This group is a to keep the word "bicore" available for any future BEAM group that might wish to discuss such robotic designs.
  • beam-elite
    • John's Description: Once upon a time, long long ago there was a beam-elite emailing list. Perhaps this will be its reincarnation.
  • small-gods
    • John's Description: A group for people who think that BEAM is about creating artificial life. Not merely robotics nor cybernetics nor all of that stuff.
  • beam-heretics
    • John's Description: This is the most restricted of all of the BEAM lists that I'm running. Also, since no one seems to want to make any comments about how I might rearrange the Heretics site, I'm simply going to use this list for the really heretical flames -- stuff that I'm not willing to put on alt-beam, small-gods, or bicore. I've just taken posting moderation off, but only members may post and members must be approved. I have also changed the message area so that only members may read them. I want other people to have a place to rant or foam at the mouth if they'd like: I'll set up a poll to see if "the membership" (wow, all 5 of us! 2001 06 23) want the messages to be publicly (sp?) readable or not.

[edit] External References

[edit] Artcles By John A. deVries II

[edit] Additional References

[edit] Website Archives


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