With Thanks

Throughout that history, a number of people provided assistance, encouragement, professional advice, technical input, friendship or support at important stages of the journey.

This page is intended to acknowledge those individuals whose contribution or support Richard Baker wishes to recognise as part of the FINALSTEP historical record.

The acknowledgements are personal expressions of thanks. Inclusion on this page does not imply that any individual endorses every interpretation, conclusion or legal position presented elsewhere in the archive.

People Acknowledged in the Published Book

The following names are reproduced from the acknowledgements in Richard Baker's published book, preserving the historical record of those he wished to thank for assistance and support during his patent journey.

• John Gough
• Barry Barnett
• Naomi Takashima
• Regina Baker
• Vern Johnson
• Ken Clifton
• Ian Baker-Finch
• Stewart Williams
• Mitsuhara Hoshi
• Professor Brian Lovell
• Andrew Smith
• Ryusei Otsuka
• Charles Hoffmann

A Final Note - AI and the Ability to Create

In preparing FINALSTEP AI, artificial intelligence, including ChatGPT, assisted Richard Baker with organising and examining decades of historical material, research, writing, website development, coding and the presentation of this historical record.

AI did not conceive Richard Baker's original invention or create the history documented in this archive. Its role came much later, as a tool that helped bring together, examine and present a large body of work accumulated over many years.

This experience also illustrates a broader possibility. Artificial intelligence may enable individuals to develop and complete worthwhile projects that, because of their scale, complexity, cost or the skills required, might otherwise never be realised.

One of its most practical benefits is the ability for an individual to ask a specific question and receive immediate assistance drawn from a very broad base of knowledge. In many situations this can reveal solutions, technical explanations and practical workarounds that would otherwise require specialist support or may never have been discovered by the individual at all.

The long-term significance of AI may therefore not simply be how much existing work it makes faster, but how many worthwhile things come into existence that otherwise never would have.

A Long Journey

The historical record preserved in FINALSTEP spans decades. During that time, many different people crossed paths with the work in professional, technical, academic, commercial and personal settings.

This acknowledgement page is deliberately separate from the documentary evidence sections. Its purpose is simply to recognise those people Richard Baker wishes to thank for their assistance or support along the way.