I'm married with one child. I live in Melbourne, Australia. I am of Anglo-Scottish descent (Father Scottish, Mother English), and have joint British and Australian citizenship. My surname is Pictish.
I was born on a Royal Air Force base on Cyprus in 1959, then moved to RAF Stanmore in Middlesex (London) in 1961. In 1965 we emigrated to Australia, and in 1968 we moved back to England (Wiltshire). In 1994 I married and then emigrated to Australia again (permanently) with my Greek-Australian wife.
From 1979 to early 1984 I worked in logistics in the Ministry Of Defence (Navy) in the UK. I've worked in Information Technology since 1984, the first 10 years as a software developer or development team lead, and subsequently in software testing and test management. I was born on Boxing Day, and I share my birthday with the founder of modern computing, Charles Babbage.
I designed and published the science fiction boardgame 6 Billion. In my article A Crude Guide To Solar Energy Levels in The Solar System in support of the vision of the game, I introduced the concepts of the Heliovore and the Nanosphere.
I wrote and maintain the The Exponentialist homepage which explores the nature of exponential growth, and introduces the concept of Malthusian Selection to evolutionary theory.
I have a dietary disability known as fructose malabsorption.
I am a humanist, an atheist, amateur mathematician and amateur evolutionist. I support space advocacy.