My name is Stephen Ware. I am an upright, bipedal mammal with a penchant for pixels and an overactive imagination. I do my best to travel through time (mostly forward) and space (mostly left and right) without breaking anything. I presently reside in Raleigh, North Carolina, where I am doing Artificial Intelligence research. When robots take over the world, you'll know who to blame.

Academic Interests

I am currently working with Dr. Michael Young's Liquid Narrative group at North Carolina State University, where I am pursuing my Ph.D. and teaching classes on occasion. Specifically, I'm working on an NSF grant that involves generating conflict in computer-created narratives. I'm teaching computers to write better stories. And take over the world.

While I was at Loyola University New Orleans, I also earned a B.A. in Philosophy because--let's face it--that's where the real money is. I published a couple of papers in Loyola journals concerning my main area of interest in philosophy of mind: the problem of consciousness ("what-it-is-like-ness," in the words of Thomas Nagel). Under Dr. William Cotton, I wrote quite a lot about the Jungian's archetype of Wizards in literature, opera, and cinema for my thesis.

Personal Interests

I enjoy inventing new and absurd things in the kitchen, fencing, and playing various table-top games with friends around town. My favorite haunt is The Flying Saucer, and I am a regular addendee of Raleigh's Friday night Rocky Horror Picture Show. I used to be an active choral singer, but I have yet to find a good outlet for that in Raleigh. I do some amateur web and game development on the side.

As a previous resident of New Orleans, I tend to get a little carried away with how much I love and miss that city. I go back to visit when the opportunity presents itself.

The closest I ever came to being internet famous was during my work with the GamerParty community, where I was a moderator and developer for several years before the forum and games were taken down by Atari. I earned a mention in this Wikipedia article and started L4E, the longest running clan on the site. Oh, and apparently my manly name generator is now #1 on Google. Huzzah!