(upbeat music) - PNC is proud to support "Business Forward," where community leaders discuss the issues confronting business in central Illinois.

(upbeat uplifting music) - Welcome to "Business Forward."

I'm your host, Matt George.

Joining me tonight, a good friend of mine, James Kemper.

James is an architect by day and an author at night.

And that's how I look at it.

Welcome, James.

- Hey, how are you doing, Matt?

- How'd you like that superhero introduction?

- You did a great job.

Thank you.

- Well, we've known each other for a long time, just in various ways.

Not only friends, but I mean, we were huge supporters of our community in Middle Illinois.

But I'll never forget, a few years back we had a conversation.

And this was way before, I also wrote a book, and it was way before I even wrote the book.

And you said to me: "Yeah, I'm an author.

I've written this and I've written that."

And I was like, "Man, this guy, he can sit there and he can come up with a napkin and draw a building and he can write a book."

And you know, that artistic mind that you have in writing your new book.

And the new book, "Imagine There's No," it just came out and I saw some great social media.

You had book signings, and people all over talking about this book.

So I said, "I have to have you on the show."

To not talk about one piece of your life, but to talk about something that I think is just creative, artistic, and the topic is just really out there.

It is out there.

So let's start with you.

Where are you from originally?

- Originally, Delavan, Illinois.

I went to high school there.

Small period of time in Dexter, Missouri, but back to Delavan, Illinois, junior and senior year.

Lived with my grandmother, Greta Alexander.

Interesting lifestyle there.

Went to college here at Bradley, and moved to Chicago for about 10, 15 years and came back.

Been back for about 10 or 15.

- [Matt] So what brought you back here?

- Family.

- Okay.

- Yes.

- Well, one of the things that... How many books have you written, by the way?

- Before this one, there's one that's published.

And I have three others on the way, maybe four.

- I mean, how do you juggle in your head all of these different ideas?

Because the conversations we've had, it feels like you've got 10 to 15 books going at one time, or in your head.

- Yeah, so this one was frankly very easy to write.

When I was in college at Bradley, I studied not only architecture but philosophy.

And one of the classes that I took, it was called Society and Technology.

And in that book we studied, I mean not that book, in that class we studied how technology influenced society.

And it was a good, bad, and you know, indifferent.

And I wrote a very long paper on what technology would be like in the future, how it would affect human society.

So that seed has been in my head for 30 years.

- Yeah, let's talk about that piece, 'cause I think that's an interesting piece.

So you're at Bradley.

- Yeah.

- You have this idea of this vision, so to speak.

I'm just gonna put those words in your mouth.

But you wrote about it.

- Yes.

- And you put to paper, what specifically did you write about that led to some of this, I guess a fruition of some of it's true.

- Yeah, this past few days, that is accurate.

- It is crazy.

So let's go back to the Bradley beginning.

How did that get into your head?

- So in that one, we read many, many books by authors that were talking about, you know, society in the future.

I remember one was by Jacques Ellul.

I think it was called "Technology and Society," which was very similar to the name of the class.

Just studied what they thought about things.

And then you had to come up with your own thesis on why technology is a positive or negative thing.

One of the things that I did is I compared the !Kung Bushmen in South Africa to the average American in 1989.

There were studies by Dutch scientists on how many times they smiled a day, how many hours they worked a day.

Things like that, you know, about happiness.

And they compared that to the average American back in 1989.

And it came out that they worked, you know, less than 1/3 of what we worked in 1989.

They smiled four or five times more than what we smiled.

So the question is why do we work?

You know, why are we doing all of this?

Is it to have the thing, to have the technology?

And what does it really bring you?

So then my thesis went on to say, "Okay, what is it 50, 60 years in the future?"

In that one I wrote that, you know, technology would give you the option, the choice to have your children when they're born, to have their brain and their brainstem removed and put in a vat and given a perfect life.

So that was the thesis at that time, and kind of a dystopian outlook on the future.

And this is not that dystopian.

- Right, but your mind started going.

And so were you back in those days, and then up to now, did you journal a lot?

Did you write a lot?

How did you get what's in your head?

Because you have some, pretty smart guy.

So I'm trying to figure out how you get outta your head to talk about it or to write it down, to come up with some of these ideas.

'Cause we're gonna talk about this book in a minute, which is crazy.

- All right, well, frankly, I'm not trying to be weird about it.

It's kind of easy imagining things, imagining the future, what is it gonna be like.

We see what's in front of us right now.

We see people with their cellular phones and they're stuck to it.

And I'm only seeing this getting worse.

So what is is the next step for that?

Seems to me that they're probably gonna come out with some lenses and earpieces, kinda like what you have in your ear right now, that plug you in 24/7 and entertain you.

I can foresee that money, as an example, could be a thing that is erased.

And how is it erased?

Well, currently, coin, cryptocurrency.

It's a possibility that computers through mining will create more and more and more.

And the more powerful they get, there is more and more and more of it.

Well, who owns it?

Does the computer own it?

Can they distribute it?

So those are things that are possibilities, and it's kind of the background to the book.

- Okay.

So I'm just gonna read something.

"This novel explores how the world got to a point where people were granted their greatest desires, like the song by John Lennon.

- Correct.

"Okay.

No religion, no boundaries.

And you just talked about it: no money.

Talk about how John Lennon got... - Yeah, so John Lennon obviously is a very well-known figure, part of the Beatles, and came up with that song.

And many people love this song.

Whether you like the lyrics or not is another story.

But I took, you know, the lyrics and those three things that you're discussing, Matt, and overlaid this with what, you know, is that the perfect utopian world?

Is it?

And that's a question that I allow the reader to answer themselves.

Go into this future, and there are no boundaries.

There's no state line.

There's no real money.

There is this thing called coin, but it's kind of elusive.

And religion, since everybody's essentially entertained 24/7, it's somewhat dissipated in the world.

So it's not really there.

But the book brings some of these things back to the people that don't really know about it.

And the question of excellence and quality overlay all of that as well.

- Yeah, so you know, I was just thinking, 'cause I wasn't thinking of this coming into this interview, but you also have filmed shorts and some videos.

And so you have this creative media mind, so to speak, on how to get it out to the public.

But what's interesting about this book, and I do want to talk more about what's in it, but you just decided: "Hey, I'm writing this other large book.

And I just needed a break and shift my mind and take a break from that."

Is that true?

- It's absolutely 100% true, Matt.

You can ask my wife.

- I'm gonna put this book to the side.

I'm gonna write another one.

- Well, I've been working on this other one for a couple of years with Dr. Rick Pearl.

And it's, okay, I need a break here.

I had about a week off between Christmas and New Year's, and I said, "I'm writing this book.

I'm gonna write a sci-fi."

it's in my head.

I'm writing this thing down.

and my wife looks at me like, "Oh geez, you know, you're nuts."

- [Matt] She's gonna get outta your way.

- "Are you gonna do this in a week?"

And I, you know, first thing in the morning until 2:00 AM, you know, you can ask her.

I was just at the computer nonstop.

Well, it took three weeks.

It was not a week.

But I got the major portion of it in three weeks.

Had multiple people read that first draft, and made some changes over the next few months.

And now a year later it went through the publishing process.

And boom, there it is.

Right in front of you.

- So let's talk about, we're gonna get back to this one.

But let's talk about the book on Dr. Pearl.

- Yes.

- Why?

- He has got an absolutely extraordinary life.

That man is like Forrest Gump.

He goes from this to this to this to this.

It's just story after story.

And it's fascinating, absolutely fascinating.

- For people who don't know who he is, just give us a little overview of who he is and where he lives.

'Cause you just spoke to him yesterday you said.

- Yeah, actually I did.

Yes.

It was on the phone yesterday.

He's originally from New York.

He went to high school in New York, went to college, Rhode Island, you got a bunch of fun stories there.

He was drafted and went to Vietnam.

Before he went to Vietnam, he scored well enough to go through OCS.

Then he went to helicopter school.

Then he went to Cobra Helicopter School in Vietnam.

He was a Cobra helicopter pilot.

Had I think 600 missions while in Vietnam.

So that's a really, really fun chapter.

Yeah, but Vietnam's only one like 100 pages out of the 800 we have written.

Then he goes to Germany, and I can go on and on and on about this stuff.

Ultimately he gets into medical school at age 32, goes through medical school residency, goes to Harvard.

Then he goes into Desert Storm as a colonel and leads the MASH, what do we call that?

The MASH stuff over in Desert Storm.

Ultimately finds his way to Peoria and helps OSF to start the children's hospital.

Then the Jump Center and many, many, he's got a crazy, crazy list of accolades.

And he's a really interesting, fun, dynamic person as well.

- I mean, how does the book, how are you even gonna end the book?

Because when I was talking to you a few weeks ago, we were having dinner and you were talking about you won't believe this guy.

He's got 30 to 40 lives into one life.

- He does.

And you just mentioned, I didn't know this, you just mentioned you're already at 800 pages.

I mean, you talk about a tribute or an ode to Dr. Pearl, this is what it is.

- And it's strange 'cause we met this past month.

He lives in Ohio now.

We met there and he was like, "James, you know, nobody's gonna read, you know, a book this big."

I said, "I know.

That's why we're making it three books."

You know, the first one's 500, 500, 500.

And we're in process right now of editing the first 500.

We're about ready for the proofreader on it.

And he's like, "We gotta cut stuff out.

We gotta cut stuff out.

Nobody's gonna read this.

And I'm like, "Rick, I've already had quite a few people read this thing.

No, each one of these stories is a standalone story that is strong, and there's something to it that's just enormously fun."

- Isn't that crazy?

What you were telling me, it's almost like you could turn it into a movie.

- Absolutely.

- [Matt] Or 10 minutes.

- This is a true Forrest Gump show.

It really is.

I'm not joking.

He fights a orangutan.

Yes.

He does stuff like.

- That is just crazy.

And so how old is he now?

- 78.

- [Matt] And when did he move from Peoria?

Do you know?

- Move away from Peoria?

It's been a about, not quite a year, I believe.

Around a year-ish, something like that.

I mean, if you think about the impact, and this really has nothing to do with the books, but if you think about an impact of just being a part of making such substantial change in a business, right?

Because you had OSF hospital.

And that's been around a long time.

But then that children's hospital and then the Jump Center.

And if people don't know what the Jump Center is, get online and read about it.

It is crazy what things that they do there on a daily basis.

But if you look at the impact now of both hospital systems, when you have your fingerprints on something like the children's hospital and so on, and then you've got St. Jude, you've got the connection to St. Jude and all these different things, we've gone in less than a decade from a manufacturing area, town, maybe even Middle Illinois, to over here to healthcare, and not just small healthcare.

And we're talking about the new cancer center that's coming.

- That is huge.

- I mean, it is unbelievable the impact that is going to, all of the great things that are gonna happen here in Peoria, in Middle Illinois.

You're gonna have people coming from all over the world.

- Absolutely.

Absolutely.

- That's unbelievable.

Any other fun Rick Pearl stories?

- I've got a crazy number.

- [Matt] Ones that you can tell?

- Well, I started the book off with him stealing a car.

- Okay.

- 'Cause he did.

(both laughing) - That is crazy.

Well, I can't wait to read it.

But it might take me about five years to read 1500 pages.

So let's talk about this now.

- Yes, sir.

- So this book takes place in 2093.

I like how it takes place in Peoria.

- It does.

- That's great.

Tell me about the book.

Like walk me through, in three weeks, first of all, how you whip something out like that in three weeks.

But then tell me about the whole story here.

- Sure.

So it can be read many different ways.

It's intended to be a book that anybody, I mean anybody from the age of 14 to 90, whatever, 100, can pick it up and read it quickly and have a fun story out of it.

The characters are well developed, even though it's very thin.

And you gain an empathy for them on both sides.

The two main characters are extreme different worlds.

One is anti-technology and the other one is really into it.

The first person present, it is through the eyes of a guy named is Elliot Bourne.

So Elliott Bourne is this very, very old anxious psychologist that typically provides mantra therapy for patients.

That J or Joogle, which is kind of, threading into what's what's happening right now.

So the Joogle is an artificial intelligence platform that originally was a search engine, and is pretty much, you know, what took over everything as I was mentioning before.

So it employs Elliott as this psychologist since J can't do that sort of thing.

Artificial intelligence platforms don't really understand emotion and humans.

So J typically is a psychologist for young people that are going through hormonal issues.

But this time J sends Grace, a 15-year-old girl, to him, not for the mantra therapy but to teach her, teach her how things used to be.

Teach her about quality and excellence.

And through this dialogue that Grace and Elliott have, you start to, you know, get into the world in 2093 and feel for both of them, and see that really the goal of humanity is not these competing things, but something else.

And they learn from each other in the book.

And you can look at it, read it, because I've had many people say they read it and go: "Wow, that's utopia.

What's going on here?"

And then other ones, that's dystopia.

That's crazy bad where this could go.

And it's really up for you, the reader, to decide on that.

And it's written purposefully that way.

I really would like the book to be read by younger audiences as well.

You and I, we're not gonna last till 2093, but younger people will.

And they're gonna be the ones that make a difference on how technology is used in the future.

Right now I don't think there's a lot of, what do you call it?

Safeguards or interest in trying to police what technology is.

So this book is meant to be a fun novel, fun, philosophical, science-fiction novel that explores what the world is like, but also could be taken seriously.

- Yeah.

So clear transparency here.

I skimmed the book heavily.

Because when I read it, so I wanna read it fully.

But I look at it kind of both ways.

I'm in the middle.

Because I sit here with young kids and I think about their phones in front of their faces the whole time.

I think about all of the change.

Like, you know, I've talked to people about crypto and things, and they're 100% adamant that we will have no money, no actual cash.

And I listened to those theories.

And then another year goes by and it's leaning towards that, more than my last conversation with them.

And so I go back to 'em and ask 'em again.

And it's crazy because when you think about all of the change, my grandma a couple years ago, she lived to 105.

She was born in 1915.

And we put together a video for her on her 100th birthday.

And what we did is we laid everything out.

She actually lived through two pandemics.

She actually lived through two world wars.

You name it.

Having no TVs to having this.

And then we were facetiming her at age 100, and she could not believe it.

And she was of mind.

And so think of the change now of where we're at in our lives.

You know, I'm 52 years old.

And you sit there and you go: "Okay, what are our kids going to see and feel?"

And they already, my older kids, 28 and 26, 22, those girls, they don't even carry cash.

Matter of fact, my daughter Ally, you'll get a kick out of this.

We're in Arizona.

She lives in Arizona.

And we go to the bank, she looks around and she goes, "Other than you going into the bank to get a sucker, I've never been in a bank."

I go: "What?

What Are you talking about?"

You know, that doesn't make sense to someone like me and you, to where we still walk in and we still like the social interaction piece and all that.

And I think that's where the bad, the dystopia side for me is.

It's that disconnect from the people.

Like you come in, I come in in, and we give each other a little hug, a high-five.

"Hey, what's up man?"

I need that.

I don't need something in my ear all the time telling me for entertainment purposes of what's going on.

Matter of fact, I just want to chill sometimes and read a book.

But now all these kids are sitting here flipping on their phones reading, if they are reading.

I helped homework last night.

The book is online.

I don't like that.

So that's just, you know, I think it's age.

- Yes.

- So it's really interesting.

So it says, "You look around and it's hard to see people looking up at leaves and things in the sky."

I like that.

Because it's hard, isn't it?

- Well, they're stuck right here.

- Unbelievable.

"So even when people are talking to one another, they're not looking at each other.

They're stuck to their device.

And I really only foresee this getting worse," said James Kemper.

- [James] Yes.

- It's amazing.

So you've got this book out.

It's hot.

It's so in.

I love it.

And then when do you think you're going to have a completed version of all three of the Dr. Pearl books?

- So yeah, the first one we're hoping September, October.

Really depends on, we still haven't picked the publisher.

We've got quite a few interested, but we haven't decided one yet.

So it usually takes about nine months once, you know, from beginning to end on that process.

So the first one will be there.

The second book is not entirely done, so it'll require more interviews on that.

And the third one are essentially just notes at the moment.

So I would say all three would be another two or three years probably.

- Okay, So this is a life's work in a way.

- Oh, it's an incredible amount of work.

It is interviewing, you know, once a week for three, four hours, and then going back and writing 50, 60 pages, reviewing that, and then another interview.

We've got it down.

We've got a little process in place.

But yeah, it just takes a long time.

- Yeah, so you have a Facebook page.

you can go to the author page, right, and check things out.

And I know your book's on Amazon.

If you Google or Joogle- - [James] Yeah.

Joogle.

- James Kemper, all of it pops up.

I looked at it in the last couple of days.

But let me ask you this.

I said this to somebody one time.

And I knew an architect and I said to her, "It's like you are an artist."

Because what you do in your mind and how you draw or how you envision something, and not just the talent of being able to draw a building as an example.

I know I'm making it very simple.

But to actually picture where that building is going to be and what it's going to look like and how it's gonna look inside and how the flow and all of those different things.

So if I come to you, how does somebody in your day business as an architect work remotely?

I've always wondered that.

- Yes, so our office, we have quite a few architects that are employed at the firm.

And the Chicago office is 100% remote right now.

Peoria, this office, it's really by choice.

If you want to come in, you can.

And if don't, you don't.

It's been a challenge to do that.

What I find myself doing is on the Zoom calls or whatever you want, the Teams meetings, I'll put my computer up and I'll have my whiteboard right over here.

And I'll draw right there and do that.

And people pull their screens up, and we'll have another computer looking at the screen.

I'll sketch 'em on top of the screen.

- It was a random question I just thought of.

So your book, "Imagine There's No."

You can go on Facebook to the author page for James Kemper.

This wraps another show.

Thank you for coming on.

Well, thank you for having me, Matt.

- I appreciate it.

I'm Matt George, and this is another episode of "Business Forward."

- Thank you for tuning in to Business Forward brought to you by PNC.

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