Summary
Jaron Lanier is a computer scientist, composer, visual artist, and
author. His current appointments include Interdisciplinary
Scholar-in-Residence, CET, UC Berkeley
Computer science:
Lanier’s interests include biomimetic information architectures,
user interfaces, heterogeneous scientific simulations, advanced
information systems for medicine, and computational approaches to the
fundamentals of physics. He collaborates with a wide range of
scientists in fields related to these interests.
Lanier's name is also often associated with Virtual Reality
research. Indeed, he did coin the term 'Virtual Reality' and in
the early 1980s founded VPL Research, the first company to sell VR
products. In the late 1980s he lead the team that developed the first
implementations of multi-person virtual worlds using head mounted
displays, for both local and wide area networks, as well as the first
"avatars", or representations of users within such systems. While at
VPL, he and his colleagues developed the first implementations of
virtual reality applications in surgical simulation, vehicle interior
prototyping, virtual sets for television production, and assorted other
areas. He led the team that developed the first widely used software
platform architecture for immersive virtual reality applications.
Sun Microsystems acquired VPL's seminal portfolio of patents related to
Virtual Reality and networked 3D graphics in 1999.
From 1997 to 2001, Lanier was the Chief Scientist of Advanced Network
and Services, which contained the Engineering Office of Internet2,
and served as the Lead Scientist of the National Tele-immersion
Initiative, a coalition of research universities studying advanced
applications for Internet2. The Initiative demonstrated the first
prototypes of tele-immersion in 2000 after a three-year development
period. From 2001 to 2004 he was Visiting Scientist at Silicon Graphics
Inc., where he developed solutions to core problems in telepresence and
tele-immersion.
Lanier received an honorary doctorate from New Jersey Institute of Technology in
2006, was the recipient of CMU's Watson award in 2001, and was a finalist for
the first Edge of Computation Award in 2005.
Primary Academic/Professional Appointments:
2006-
Interdisciplinary Scholar-in-Residence, CET, UC Berkeley
2004- Fellow, International Computer Science Institute, Berkeley
2003-2005 Visiting Scientist, Silicon Graphics
2002-2004 Jones Center Fellow, Wharton School, UPenn
2002- Visiting
Faculty, Dartmouth College (Surgical Simulation And Tele-Medicine)
1999-2002 Chief Scientist, Eyematic Interfaces (IP and most of team now at Google)
1997-2001 Chief Scientist, Advanced Network And
Services (Parent organization at the time of the Engineering Office Of
Internet2)
1997-2000 Lead Scientist, National Tele-Immersion Initiative (1st Tele-I Implementation)
1997-2001 Visiting Scholar, Columbia University
1996-2001 Visiting Artist, Interactive Telecommunications Program, NYU
1984-1990 CEO, VPL Research (1st Multiperson VR And First Commercial VR Products)
1983-1984 Researcher, Atari Labs
1980-1983 Independent Video Game Developer
1979-1980 Student Researcher On NSF-Funded Project On
Digital Graphical Simulations For Learning At New Mexico
State University
1974-1978 Independent goat milk and cheese provider (paid for my undergraduate education this way!)
Additional Current Appointments
Member Of Science Board, Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center
Member, Board Of Advisors, Lindenlabs (Social Simulations; “Second Life”)
Member, Board Of Advisors, Data Physics (Signal processing to improve volumetric medical imaging.)
Member, Board Of Advisors, Numedeon (Social Simulations To Encourage Female Teens In Math And Quantitative Sciences.)
Some Past Appointments (Incomplete list)
Research Fellow, Center For Business Innovation, Ernst And Young
Fellow, World Economic Forum,
Fellow, Macarthur Foundation Roundtables
Member, Board Of Advisors, Nevenvision (Spin-Off Company Associated With ISI (USC) Machine Vision Research- now part of Google.)
Member, Board Of Advisors, Meaningful Machines (Machine Text Translation)
Visiting Professor, San Francisco State University
Silicon Valley Lineages:
• Paracomp, a spin-off from VPL Research, Inc. (which was founded
by Jaron) merged with MacroMind to become MacroMedia, which then merged
with Adobe.
• Medical Media Systems, another VPL spin-off, became Medical
Metrix Systems, and then M2S Inc., a major player in medical imaging
software controlled by AIG and Pfizer.
• The PowerGlove was a major toy licensed to Mattel Toys from VPL.
• VPL was acquired by Sun Microsystems.
• Eyematic Interfaces, where Lanier was Chief Scientist, became Nevengineering, which was wholly acquired by Google.
Punditry:
Lanier is a well-known author and speaker. “Jaron’s
World” is his monthly column in Discover Magazine, and is devoted
to his own wide ranging ideas and research. He writes and speaks
on numerous topics, including high-technology business, the social
impact of technological practices, the philosophy of consciousness and
information, Internet politics, and the future of humanism. His
lecture client list includes most of the well-known high technology
firms as well as many others in the energy, automotive, and financial
services industries. His book, "Technology and the Future of the Human
Soul" will be finished someday, but is delayed by epic procrastination.
His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Discover, The Wall
Street Journal, Forbes, Harpers Magazine, The Sciences, Wired Magazine
(where he was a founding contributing editor), and Scientific American.
He has edited special "future" issues of SPIN and Civilization
magazines. He is one of the 100 “remarkable people”
of the Global Business Network.
Music:
As a musician, Lanier has been active in the world of new "classical"
music since the late seventies. He is a pianist and a specialist in
unusual musical instruments, especially the wind and string instruments
of Asia. He maintains one of the largest and most varied collections of
actively played rare instruments in the world. Lanier has performed
with artists as diverse as Philip Glass, Ornette Coleman, George
Clinton, Vernon Reid, Terry Riley, Duncan Sheik, Pauline Oliveros, and
Stanley Jordan. Current recording projects include his "acoustic
techno" duet with Sean Lennon and an album of duets with flautist
Robert Dick.
He also writes chamber and orchestral music. Current commissions
include an opera that will premier in Busan, South Korea. Recent
commissions include: “Earthquake!”, a ballet which
premiered at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco in
April, 2006; “Little Shimmers” for the TroMetrik ensemble,
which premiered at ODC in San Francisco in April, 2006;
“Daredevil” for the ArrayMusic chamber ensemble, which was
premiered in Toronto in 2006; A concert length sequence of works for
orchestra and virtual worlds (including "Canons for Wroclaw",
"Khaenoncerto", "The Egg", and others) celebrating the 1000th birthday
of the city of Wroclaw, Poland, premiered in 2000; A triple concerto,
"The Navigator Tree", commissioned by the National Endowment for the
Arts and the American Composers Forum, premiered in 2000; and
"Mirror/Storm", a symphony commissioned by the St. Paul Chamber
Orchestra, and premiered in 1998. “Continental
Harmony”, a PBS special that documented the development and
premiere of “The Navigator Tree” won a CINE Golden Eagle
Award. His CD "Instruments of Change" was released on
Point/Polygram in 1994.
Lanier's work with Asian instruments can be heard extensively on the
soundtrack to "Three Seasons" (1999), which was the first film ever to
win both the Audience and Grand Jury awards at the Sundance Film
Festival. He and Mario Grigorov are currently scoring a new film,
“The Third Wave,” which will premier at Sundance in
2007. He is at work with Terry Riley on a collaborative opera to
be titled "Bastard, the First."
Lanier has also pioneered the use of Virtual Reality in musical
stage performance with his band Chromatophoria, which has toured
around the world as a headline act in venues such as the Montreux Jazz
Festival. He plays virtual instruments and uses real instruments to
guide events in virtual worlds.
Visual Art:
Lanier's paintings and drawings have been exhibited in museums and
galleries in the United States and Europe. In 2002 he co-created
(with Philippe Parreno) an exhibit illustrating how aliens might
perceive humans for the Museum of Modern Art of the City of
Paris. In 1994 he directed the film "Muzork" under a commission
from ARTE Television. His 1983 "Moondust" (which he programmed in 6502
assembly) is generally regarded as the first art video game, and the
first interactive music publication. He has presented installations in
New York City, including the "Video Feedback Waterbed" and the
"Time-accelerated Painting", which was situated in the Brooklyn Bridge
Anchorage. His first one man show took place in 1997 at the Danish
Museum for Modern Art in Roskilde. He helped make up the gadgets
and scenarios for the 2002 science fiction movie Minority Report by
Steven Spielberg.
Celebrity fluff:
In 2005 Lanier was selected as one of the top one hundred public
intellectuals in the world by Prospect and Foreign Policy
magazines. The Encyclopaedia Britannica includes him in its
list of history's 300 or so greatest inventors. The nation of
Palau has issued a postage stamp in his honor. Various
television documentaries have been produced about him, such as
“Dreadlocks and Digital Dreamworlds” by Tech TV in 2002.
The 1992 movie Lawnmower Man was in part based on him and his early
laboratory- he was played by Piers Brosnan. He has appeared on
national television many times, on shows such as "The News Hour,"
"Nightline," and "Charlie Rose," and has been profiled multiple times
on the front pages of the Wall Street Journal and the New York
Times.
Read about Jaron's
childhood in this
book.
Read Jaron's rant about
cybernetic totalism in this
book.
Read about Jaron's
research on "Phenotropics" in this
book.
TechTV produced a documentary about Jaron.
Scientific American's interview
with Jaron.
The Red Herring's premier issue featured a cover story and interview with Jaron.
Time Magazine's feature on Jaron's music with Virtual Reality.
This book claims Jaron is one of the 1000 "most creative" people in America.
The New York Times published a review
of this very web page.
Jaron is available as a lecturer.
Go back to Jaron's home page.