Danger Ranger is both an historian and a futurist, with a keen interest in technology and social communities. He has been involved with many San Francisco social, cultural and technology institutions. He was a pivotal member of San Francisco’s Cacophony Society, which catalyzed the Burning Man Project, and also a crew member of the machine performance group, Survival Research Labs. With a keen interest in culture jamming, he was a member of the underground Billboard Liberation Front, from 1989 to 1995. His Silicon Valley career began during the 1970’s with the early days of the personal computer as an electro‐mechanical systems engineer for Fairchild Semiconductor. During the early 1980s he was a consultant to Caltrans, doing research on intelligent freeway systems in Los Angeles. Branching into automated systems in the mid‐1980s, he developed the first robotic assembly line for Apple Computer’s Fremont plant in 1986. In 1987 he was a co‐founder of Jasmine Technology, the first tech company to be located within San Francisco’s city limits. As a content contributor and social catalyst, his work influenced the founders of many local technology startups, including Wired, Laughing Squid, Boing Boing and the Internet Archive.

Danger was a co-founder of Burning Man, which he joined in 1988. He initialized much of Burning Man’s progress over the years. In 1991 his concept car, the “5:04 PM” was the first art car at Burning Man. In 1992, he founded the Black Rock Rangers, and edited the first on‐site newspaper. In 1995, he developed the logo design which has become the symbol of the Burning Man community. Jumping to logistics, he launched containerized storage and transport for Burning Man, with the acquisition of its first shipping container in 1997. He instituted the first perimeter defense radar system for Black Rock City in 2000. He visited fledgling Burning Man Regional communities across the US during his 2001 Silver Seed Tour of America. In 2006, he started the process that resulted in Burning Man’s shift to a 501c3 non-profit. In 2008, he managed the development of Burning Man’s presence in the virtual world of Second Life.

As an historian, Danger has contributed his papers, printed materials and personal artifacts concerning the Cacophony Society and Burning Man to numerous archives: The San Francisco Main Library, the Bancroft Library in Berkeley; the Special Collections archive at the University of Nevada, Reno;  and especially to the Nevada Museum of Art’s Center for Art + Environment. Danger’s NMA CA+E archive became the core of a 10 month show at the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery in 2018.

At Burning Man, he currently serves as Vice President, Director of Advanced Social Systems, Ambassador, and Founding Board Member for the Burning Man Project.