A simplification of nonlinear observer theory

May, 1987

Dedication

The biggest single reason my graduate experience has been so drawn out is that, in 1971, I was 'deprogrammed' by representatives and friends of the psychiatric system - forcibly hospitalized on a trumped-up excuse, tortured by drugs and threats of violence and my reputation impaired. My intellectual opposition to psychiatric dogma put me in a position similar to Galileo Galilei when forced by the Inquisition to recant the Copernican doctrine. I say, as he is supposed to have said, eppur si muove.

I dedicate this dissertation to the victims of psychiatry and to those, within the profession and without, who struggle against its corruption. May the truth and moral rectitude prevail.