RED SHIRT
BRIGADE
A body of work.
An ongoing inquiry.

Stephen Pieraldi / Red Shirt Brigade

The technology kept changing.
The question didn’t.

I spent a career building systems that see, store, decide, protect, and act. AI eventually forced all of those questions into the same machine.

The question, today

How do we build systems
that keep people responsible?

Follow the throughline

09 / Build again

Current build

Soval

Keep the human intent.
Move the work.

Soval is the current build emerging from this inquiry: a place to preserve human intent, distinguish machine-derived work, and keep the decision to act with people.

Explore Soval
Four principles behind Soval
  1. 01

    Keep the human source.

    Carry the original words and their provenance.

  2. 02

    Make derivation visible.

    Distinguish a machine’s interpretation from its source.

  3. 03

    Carry the constraints.

    Keep the boundaries attached as work moves forward.

  4. 04

    Leave authority with people.

    Generation alone does not authorize promotion or implementation.

A career in questions

One throughline. Many chapters.

Explore the work from imaging to AI. The connections are present-day reflections; each chapter carries its sources.

01See1993 record

Siemens Medical Systems · Diagnostic imaging

Learning to see.

In 1993, an AIA/LA program listed me as a Siemens Medical Systems speaker on future radiology equipment and planning. Looking back, I see a starting point for a recurring question: what changes when a system extends what a person can see?

Behind this chapter

The archival program supports the Siemens affiliation and speaking topic. The connection to later work is a present-day interpretation. Image Enhancement Systems and the broader early imaging chronology remain open.

Open source record ↗
02Build1990s–2000s & teaching

Neoforma · Gabriel Venture Partners · Berkeley

An idea has to meet the world.

Neoforma went public in 2000. My work as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Gabriel Venture Partners and as a Berkeley lecturer put the same problem in different rooms: what do you do when a compelling idea meets an uncooperative reality?

Behind this chapter

The accepted Berkeley SCET source documents Neoforma, the Gabriel Venture Partners EIR role, and lecturer context. The chapter’s question is a present-day reflection, not a quotation.

Open source record ↗
03Preserve2008 coverage · 2010 application

iFOREM · Digital preservation

What should outlast the system?

At iFOREM, preservation meant asking what happens to digital assets when the company holding them disappears. The architecture put an independent trust beside the service provider. I return to that separation today: the service and what must survive it are different responsibilities.

Behind this chapter

The accepted 2008 iFOREM coverage supports the preservation architecture and Gabriel backing. US20100138311A1 supplies the software escrow artifact. The final sentence is present-day reflection.

Open source record ↗
04Structure2012–2013

GuessN · Human feedback

Give a question a structure.

At GuessN, the work included structured propositions, target audiences, and online community feedback. Today, I read that artifact through a question I still care about: how do you make a person’s meaning usable by a machine without quietly replacing it?

Behind this chapter

US20130232426A1 lists Stephen Pieraldi among four inventors and GuessN LLC as original assignee. Published September 5, 2013. The modern connection is retrospective, not evidence that this work anticipated generative AI.

Open source record ↗
05Heal2013–2014

CuraSeal · Medical devices & patent families

Invention with human stakes.

My inventor record at CuraSeal includes fistula and wound-treatment applications. Here the design problem meets tissue and biology. For me, it is a useful discipline to carry back into software: a convincing description is only the beginning of a design.

Behind this chapter

US20140379025A1 and US20140379026A1 are published applications. The former lists Stephen Pieraldi among three inventors, Curaseal Inc as original assignee, and an international family including WO2014205269A2. No clinical efficacy or issued U.S. patent claim is made.

Open source record ↗
06Protect2014 onward

Sideband Networks · Fidelis Cybersecurity · E8 Security · HP

Trust has to be designed.

From Sideband and Fidelis to E8 and HP, the story moves through security, machine learning, and the boundaries of trust. In 2017, the public record places me in AI and machine-learning strategy at E8. The current inquiry spans chip-to-cloud security, Zero Trust, workforce experience, and enterprise AI.

Behind this chapter

The accepted Sideband release supports VP Engineering; the accepted 2017 CSO source identifies the E8 role. Fidelis and the HP themes are supplied career context, with detailed artifacts still open. The HP–OpenAI partnership is organizational context, not evidence of personal leadership.

Open source record ↗
07Reason2021–2026

Medium · LinkedIn · Pieraldi.com · YouTube

Think in public. Keep revising.

Writing is where I keep the argument open. From “Aspirational vs. Artificial Intelligence” to “State of AI and I,” the inquiry moves from AI’s promises and limits toward the experience of working alongside it. The essays below are a selective trail through that work.

Behind this chapter

Titles, links, and the 2021–2026 framing come from the accepted evidence register and checkpoint. This paragraph is an editorial synthesis, not an extract or an exhaustive account.

Open source record ↗
08GovernCurrent inquiry

Human intent · Provenance · Authorization

Capability is not permission.

My current question is what happens between a person asking, a machine generating, and a system acting. I want the original intent, the constraints, and the decision to proceed to remain visible through that entire passage.

Behind this chapter

Present-day reflection, not a historical quotation or an assertion that earlier work anticipated modern AI.

09Build againCurrent build

Soval

Build the argument.

Soval brings the recurring questions into a practical working surface: keep human source distinct, make derivation visible, carry constraints, and leave authority with people.

Explore Soval ↗

Selected writing / 2021–2026

Keep exploring.

Ideas tried in public.
Questions carried into the next build.

The source shelfArtifacts behind the storyOpen the selective index

Source records support the story; the story does not replace them. Application numbers identify published applications, not verified U.S. grants. The HP partnership link establishes organizational context only.

A note on the record

This narrative connects documented artifacts with present-day reflections. Linked public records remain the sources for historical claims. Image Enhancement Systems, the broader early imaging chronology, detailed Fidelis/HP artifacts, and the complete video inventory remain open. Soval and this website are not authoritative sources of historical fact.