Howard Keith Henson (born 1942) is an American electrical engineer and writer. Henson writes on subjects including

space engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

space law Space law is the body of law governing space-related activities, encompassing both international and domestic agreements, rules, and principles. Parameters of space law include space exploration, liability for damage, weapons use, rescue effort ...

( Moon treaty), memetics,

cryonics Cryonics (from el, κρύος ''kryos'' meaning 'cold') is the low-temperature freezing (usually at ) and storage of human remains, with the speculative hope that resurrection may be possible in the future. Cryonics is regarded with skepticis ...

evolutionary psychology Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach in psychology that examines cognition and behavior from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify human psychological adaptations with regards to the ancestral problems they evol ...

, and the physical limitations of

Transhumanism Transhumanism is a philosophical and intellectual movement which advocates the enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available sophisticated technologies that can greatly enhance longevity and cognition. Transhuma ...

. In 1975, Henson founded the

L5 Society The L5 Society was founded in 1975 by Carolyn Meinel and Keith Henson to promote the space colony ideas of Gerard K. O'Neill. In 1987, the L5 Society merged with the National Space Institute to form the National Space Society. Name The name ...

with his then-wife Carolyn Meinel to promote

space colonization Space colonization (also called space settlement or extraterrestrial colonization) is the use of outer space or celestial bodies other than Earth for permanent habitation or as extraterrestrial territory. The inhabitation and territor ...

. In 1987 the L5 Society merged with the National Space Institute to form the

National Space Society The National Space Society (NSS) is an American international nonprofit 501(c)(3) educational and scientific organization specializing in space advocacy. It is a member of the Independent Charities of America and an annual participant in the Comb ...

Early influences

Henson was raised in a military family and he attended seven schools before 7th grade. His father, Lt. Col. Howard W. Henson (1909–2001), was a decorated (

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

and Legion of Merit)

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

officer who spent much of his career in Army Intelligence. The science-fiction author

Robert A. Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein (; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accu ...

heavily influenced his early life. Henson graduated from Prescott High School shortly after his father retired, before attending the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

and receiving a degree in electrical engineering.

University

During most of his time at university, Henson worked at a

geophysics Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' so ...

company and mostly ran

induced polarization Induced polarization (IP) is a geophysical imaging technique used to identify the electrical chargeability of subsurface materials, such as ore. The polarization effect was originally discovered by Conrad Schlumberger when measuring the resist ...

surveys in the western US and

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

. He also programmed geophysical type cases and wrote data reduction programs for the company.

Druid prank

Henson was known at the University of Arizona as one of the founders of the Druid Student Center, where a campus humor newspaper, ''The Frumious Bandersnatch'' was published in the late 1960s. He cited an incident while he was a student as a good example of memetic replication. When someone asked him to fill in a form which required him to disclose his religious affiliations he wrote '' Druid''. His prank was soon noticed by other students and before long almost 20% of the student body had registered themselves as Reform Druids, Orthodox Druids, Members of the Church of the ''n''th Druid, Zen Druids, Latter-Day Druids and so on. The university was forced to remove the religious affiliation question.

Analog engineering

After graduation, Henson went to work for Burr-Brown Research, now merged into

Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that designs and manufactures semiconductors and various integrated circuits, which it sells to electronics designers and manufacturers globa ...

, in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

. He worked on extremely low distortion quadrature oscillators and nonlinear function modules (multipliers, vector adders and root-mean-square). His first patent was a design for a 4-quadrant log-antilog multiplier. He claims to have been fired from an unnamed company in 1972 for refusing to certify an electronic module for a

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced ...

plant that failed to meet a required

MTBF Mean time between failures (MTBF) is the predicted elapsed time between inherent failures of a mechanical or electronic system during normal system operation. MTBF can be calculated as the arithmetic mean (average) time between failures of a syst ...

specification. Henson set up his own company, Analog Precision Inc., to produce specialized computer interface equipment and related industrial control devices. Henson married his first wife, Carolyn Meinel, in 1967 and divorced in 1981.

L5 Society

In 1974, Henson's occasional rock climbing partner,

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

Dr. Dan Jones, introduced him to the

work of Dr. Gerard K. O'Neill from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

. To promote these ideas, Henson and Meinel founded the

in 1975.Regis, Ed. ''The Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhuman Condition: Science Slightly Over the Edge''. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. Henson co-wrote papers for three Space Manufacturing conferences at Princeton. The 1977 and 1979 papers were co-authored with

Eric Drexler Kim Eric Drexler (born April 25, 1955) is an American engineer best known for studies of the potential of molecular nanotechnology (MNT), from the 1970s and 1980s. His 1991 doctoral thesis at Massachusetts Institute of Technology was revised and ...

. Patents were issued on both subjects—vapor phase fabrication and space radiators. In 1980, Henson testified before the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

when the L5 Society successfully opposed the Moon Treaty. The society was represented by Leigh Ratiner. The experience eventually became an article, ''Star Laws'', jointly written by Henson and Arel Lucas and published in ''

Reason Magazine ''Reason'' is an American libertarian monthly magazine published by the Reason Foundation. The magazine has a circulation of around 50,000 and was named one of the 50 best magazines in 2003 and 2004 by the ''Chicago Tribune''. History ''Reaso ...

''.sci.space.policy post
/ref>

Timothy Leary Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from bold oracle to publicity hound. He was "a her ...

was influenced by Henson's work-and credited him in publications when he referred to Space Migration and Life Extension.

Cryonics

In 1985, Henson, his wife, and their two-year-old daughter signed up with Alcor for

cryonic suspension Cryonics (from el, κρύος ''kryos'' meaning 'cold') is the low-temperature freezing (usually at ) and storage of human remains, with the speculative hope that resurrection may be possible in the future. Cryonics is regarded with skepticis ...

after being convinced by

that nanotechnology provided a method to make it work. Henson's daughter is the youngest member to sign up to Alcor. Following the Dora Kent problems, Henson became increasingly active with Alcor. After Alcor froze their chief surgeon, he learned enough surgery to put several cryonics patients on cardiac bypass. He also wrote a column for Alcor's magazine, ''Cryonics'', for a few years. Henson persuaded

to become an Alcor member, though Leary eventually dropped his membership. In that same year, Henson moved to

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Coun ...

to consult for a number of firms and debugged garbage collection software for the last stage of

Project Xanadu Project Xanadu ( ) was the first hypertext project, founded in 1960 by Ted Nelson. Administrators of Project Xanadu have declared it superior to the World Wide Web, with the mission statement: "Today's popular software simulates paper. The World ...

Memetics

Henson's wife, Arel Lucas, was credited by Douglas Hofstadter in ''

Metamagical Themas ''Metamagical Themas'' is an eclectic collection of articles that Douglas Hofstadter wrote for the popular science magazine ''Scientific American'' during the early 1980s. The anthology was published in 1985 by Basic Books. The volume is subst ...

'' for suggesting that the study of

memes A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural i ...

be called memetics. Henson wrote two articles on memes in 1987, one published in ''

Analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analog ...

'' and the other, ''Memes, Meta Memes and Politics,'' circulated on the internet before being printed. Richard Dawkins, who created the concept of memes, approvingly cites Henson's coining of the

neologism A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...

''memeoids'' to refer to "victims who have been taken over by a meme to the extent that their own survival becomes inconsequential" in the second edition of his book ''

The Selfish Gene ''The Selfish Gene'' is a 1976 book on evolution by the ethologist Richard Dawkins, in which the author builds upon the principal theory of George C. Williams's '' Adaptation and Natural Selection'' (1966). Dawkins uses the term "selfish gen ...

''.

Scientology

Henson is one of the focal points of the ongoing struggle between the Church of Scientology and its critics, often referred to as

Scientology versus the Internet There are a number of disputes concerning the Church of Scientology's attempts to suppress material critical of Scientology on the Internet, utilizing various methods primarily lawsuits and legal threats, as well as front organizations. In ...

. Henson entered the Scientology conflict when it was at its most heated in the mid-1990s. In 1996, many of Scientology's secret writings were released onto the Internet, and the Church of Scientology embarked on a massive worldwide campaign to keep them from being spread to the general public. Henson examined these writings, entitled ''New Era Dianetics'' (NOTS), and from his examination of these secret documents, said that Scientology was committing medical fraud. The NOTS documents, he said, contained detailed instructions for the treatment of physical ailments and illnesses through the use of Scientology practices. The Supreme Court decision in 1971 had declared that Scientology's writings were meant for "purely spiritual" purposes, and all Scientology books published since then have included disclaimers stating that Scientology's

E-meter The E-meter, originally the electropsychometer, is an electronic device for displaying the electrodermal activity (EDA) of a human being. It is used for auditing in Scientology and divergent groups. The efficacy and legitimacy of Scientology's ...

device "does nothing" and does not cure any physical ailments. The NOTS procedures, Henson claimed, were a violation of this decision. To prove his claim, Henson posted two pages from the NOTS documents onto the

Usenet Usenet () is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979, and it wa ...

newsgroup ''alt.religion.scientology''. The Church of Scientology immediately initiated legal action, but Henson did not retract his claims. He was served with a lawsuit by the church's legal arm, the

Religious Technology Center The Religious Technology Center (RTC) is an American non-profit corporation Letter by the Internal Revenue Service to Flemming Paludan, Regional Director, Danish Tax-Office, Washington, D.C., USA, December 22, 1993 that was founded in 1982 by th ...

, (RTC). Henson defended himself. After a lengthy court battle involving massive amounts of paperwork, Henson was found guilty of

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...

. He was ordered to pay $75,000 in fines. Henson declared bankruptcy in response to the judgment. Henson began protesting Scientology regularly, standing outside Scientology's

Gold Base Gold Base (also variously known as Gold, Golden Era Productions, Int Base, or Int) is the ''de facto'' international headquarters of the Church of Scientology, located north of San Jacinto, California, United States, about from Los Angeles. The ...

, with a picket sign. The organization sought to obtain a restraining order, which failed. As a result of this conflict, Henson was charged with three misdemeanors under California Law: making criminal threats
California Penal Code section 422
, attempting to make criminal threats

, and ttp://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cacodes/pen/422.6-422.95.html threatening to interfere with freedom to enjoy a constitutional privilege Sheriff's Detective Tony Greer,

Riverside County Riverside County is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most populous county in California and the 10th-most populous in the Uni ...

lead investigator, said: "In reviewing all of the Internet postings I did not see any direct threat of violence towards the church or any personnel of the church." The jury verdict of the trial resulted in Henson being convicted of one of the three charges: "interfering with a religion." This misdemeanor charge carried a prison term of six months. On the other two charges, the jury did not agree. Ken Hoden, the general manager of Golden Era Productions (the Church of Scientology's film production facility), claimed that Scientology's allegations against Henson had nothing to do with Scientology Fair Game policy, and that no such policy existed. Henson stated his belief that if he went to prison, his life would be placed in jeopardy. Rather than serve his sentence, Henson chose to enter Canada and apply for

political asylum The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another ent ...

. Henson lived quietly in Brantford for three years while he awaited the decision. His request was ultimately denied and, in 2005, he was ordered to present himself for deportation and transfer to US authorities. Instead, Henson fled to the United States and later presented himself to the Canadian consulate in Detroit. Then he settled in Prescott, Arizona where he remained for two years until his arrest in 2007 by Arizona authorities. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, as well as Henson's supporters on the

USENET Usenet () is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979, and it wa ...

newsgroup ''alt.religion.scientology'', say that his trial was biased, unfair and a mockery of justice. Henson was prohibited by the trial judge, for example, from arguing that copying documents for the purpose of criticism is

fair use Fair use is a doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to balance the interests ...

. Henson's location as of February 3, 2007 was th
Yavapai Detention Center
in

Prescott, Arizona Prescott ( ) is a city in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2020 Census, the city's population was 45,827. The city is the county seat of Yavapai County. In 1864, Prescott was designated as the capital of the Arizona ...

, awaiting possible extradition to Riverside County, California. At the "initial appearance" hearing on February 5, 2007, Henson stated through counsel that he was fighting extradition and requested release. Judge Lindberg set a court date for March 5, 2007 in the Prescott Justice Court and set release at $7,500 cash or bond, with standard conditions. Henson's release on bond was secured. In spite of these distractions, Henson finished a

space elevator A space elevator, also referred to as a space bridge, star ladder, and orbital lift, is a proposed type of planet-to-space transportation system, often depicted in science fiction. The main component would be a cable (also called a space tethe ...

presentation for a European Space Agency conference. The paper was presented by proxy on February 28, 2007. The extradition hearing for Henson was postponed to May 8, 2007, at the request of Henson's attorney and the County attorney. At his release from jail, Henson was handed paper work from Riverside County, including a warrant from September 15, 2000. At the May 8, 2007 hearing, Henson was presented with an arrest warrant, and returned to jail. In 2007, Henson was jailed in Riverside, California for "using threats of force to interfere with another's exercise of civil rights". He was released in early September 2007.

Energy systems

From 2007 on, Henson worked independently and with others on the problems of global energy supply and affordable cost, particularly on ''power satellites'' for space-based solar power. There he was particularly concerned with launch cost, system mass, waste heat, heat radiators, and economics. The power satellite work was reported in a series of articles starting with two posted on The Oil Drum and three presented at IEEE SusTech conferences for Sustainable Technology. Henson also was involved in producing videos about thermal power satellites and beamed energy propulsion the latter of which won an award in an international competition. (See Online Journal of Space Communication, Issue No. 18 under Works, below.) A shorter version was shown at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

in the last days of the Obama Administration by Lt. Col. Peter Garretson and Dr. Paul Jaffe as part of the D3 government-wide contest. Additionally, he worked over a year for Ed Kelly on StratoSolar when it seemed possible that ''high altitude lighter-than-air'' StratoSolar could beat the projected cost of power satellites. Henson visited

Reaction Engines Reaction Engines Limited is a British aerospace manufacturer based in Oxfordshire, England. History and personnel In , Reaction Engines was founded by Alan Bond (lead engineer on the British Interplanetary Society's Project Daedalus) and Ric ...

in the UK twice: in 2012 on the way back from a power satellite presentation in Germany ("Economic feedback for low-cost solar energy from space") and in 2016 when he gave a two-hour presentation to the engineering department of

. The latter, plus other, later discussions set the rate of expansion for producing Skylon rocket planes used in the ''power satellite'' business cases. In early 2015, Henson created the Google group Power Satellite Economics where various concerned citizens and experts from various fields can discuss the complexities and benefits of ''power satellites'' and related work.

Works

*Henson, H.K., and K.E. Drexler: ''Vapor-phase Fabrication of Massive Structures in Space'', Space Manufacturing AIAA 1977 *Henson, H.K., and K.E. Drexler: ''Gas Entrained Solids: A Heat Transfer Fluid for Use in Space'' Space Manufacturing AIAA 1979 *H. Keith Henson and Arel Lucas: ''STAR LAWS'' Reason Magazine, Aug. 198
STAR LAWS
(text only) *Henson, H.K.

''L5 News'', September 1985, pp. 5–8. *Henson, H.K.

''L5 News'', June 1986 *Henson, H.Keith
MEMETICS AND THE MODULAR-MIND
''Analog'' August 1987 *Henson, Keith
"Memetics: The Science of Information Viruses"
''Whole Earth Review'' no. 57, 1987 *Henson, H. Keith
MegaScale Engineering and Nanotechnology
1987 *Henson, H. Keith
Memes Meta-Memes and Politics
1988 Alt

*H. Keith Henson and Arel Lucas

Darwin's difficulty (From Extropy) 1989 *H. Keith Henson and Arel Lucas
Memes, Evolution, and Creationism
1989, *H. Keith Henson: *H. Keith Henson: and Arel Lucas: , 1993 *Keith Henson
''Wogs at Cause—Car chases and other modern courtroom phenomena
(adapted from the version published in Biased Journalism)'' Als

*H. Keith Henson
''South of the Border at the Road Kill Cafe (Part 1)''
*Henson, H. Keith

An evolutionary psychology perspective on why and how cult memes get a drug-like hold on people, and what might be done to mitigate the effects'', The Human Nature Review 2002 Volume 2: 343–355 *H. Keith Henson
''Evolutionary Psychology Memes and the Origin of War ''
Als

*H. Keith Henson: ESA Conference presentation Feb 2007 *H. Keith Henson

''The Clinic Seed—Africa.'' *Keith Henson

''Tunnel of Love.'' *H. Keith Henson: ''Beamed Energy and the Economics of Space Based Solar Power,'' Beamed Energy Propulsion: 6th International Symposium, American Inst. of Physics, 2010 * * * * * Als

* * Comment on David MacKay's blo

* 2014 IEEE Conference on Technologies for Sustainability (SusTech), (pp. 203–208). Portland: IEEE. * Online Journal of Space Communication, Issue No. 18. * Online Journal of Space Communication, Issue No. 18. * * * 2016 IEEE Conference on Technologies for Sustainability (SusTech), Phoenix, AZ: IEEE.

References

External links

;Biographical
Keith Henson Information
()
Exile on Meme Street – Keith Henson Talks about Memetics, Evolutionary Psychology and Scientology
;Bibliographical

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henson, Keith American non-fiction writers Critics of Scientology University of Arizona alumni Scientology and law Cryonicists 1942 births Space advocates Living people Memetics Scientology and the Internet American transhumanists American male non-fiction writers