|
MEETING NOTICE |
|
TUESDAY December 7, 2010 - 6:00 PM
|
|
Four Maximally Extreme ideas in Display Technology Jason Lanier
|
|
Abstract: The speaker is an extremophile.
The four ideas are: 1) Homuncular computing, the use of topical avatars to
invoke somatic cognition in a problem solving domain, such as becoming a
molecule to understand a molecular binding problem; 2) DNA encryption, in
which messages are encoded in DNA without altering biological function; 3)
Graphstellation, the rearrangement of nearby star systems to communicate
with alien civilizations; and 4) Spacetime tolological computing, using
artificial black holes to weave information into spacetime. Briefest status
reports on the four ideas to be presented: 1) has worked for almost 30
years, but is about to be vastly accelerated by the availability of Kinect.
2) was proposed as a joke in 1999 by the author and Columbia University
neurobiologist Dave Sulzer, but turned into an authentic discipline. 3) is
in proposal stages, a collaboration with the late Per Bak of the Institute
for Advanced Study, but could be implemented affordably in only hundreds or
thousands of years, become visible in perhaps 50 million years, and last
for much of the life of the universe. 4) Is a thought experiment, a
collaboration with Haverford physicist Stephon Alexander, that might shed
light on the problem of the cosmological constant, and if it works would
provide evidence of a universe teeming with high tech life.
Biography: Jaron Lanier is a partner architect at MSR and Innovator in Residence at the Annenberg School of USC. Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world for 2010. He received a life time career award from the IEEE in 2009 for his contributions to Virtual Reality, a field which he is sometimes credited with fathering. His book, You Are Not a Gadget was published in 2010 by Knopf. He’s also a musician. He helped start companies that became parts of Adobe, Oracle, Google, and Pfizer. Seminar Information: The Seminar is free.
Please join the speaker for a no-host dinner after the seminar. Directions
to the restaurant will be provided at the seminar. Non-Members are welcome.
RSVP to Gary |