Spring Break
Men of Vision
Alex Godden (OJ), Viewpoints Editor
Issue date: 11/19/07 Section: Viewpoints & Humor
My next question was about favourite gadgets: Ray Kurzweil has a Nokia N95, and is extremely appreciative of the number of high-quality features it is possible to get on cellphones these days, such as digital photography, internet access and GPS. Philip Rosedale has a BlackBerry Pearl that he' just loves', but his favourite new toy is his iTouch, and he's very interested in the potential of touch-control format going forward. Given that one of the main barriers to the suspension of disbelief in virtual worlds is the jarring disconnect of having to manipulate objects within them using a 2-D mouse, I can see many directions that such an interest could lead us.
The next question, trying to keep things casual, was favorite TV show: Philip doesn't watch TV, but his favourite movie is Bladerunner, which he told me with a self-deprecating grin that acknowledged the predictability of that choice. Ray's favourite show is, surprisingly, Desperate Housewives (I genuinely didn't see that one coming). He went on to explain to me that the appeal of the show is it's blend of drama and tongue in check humor, a style he is attempting to recreate in the screenplay he is currently working on (The Singularity is near: A true story about the Future) in which Pauley Perette will be playing Ramona, his female avatar. To contrast, Philip Rosedale's online avatar is Philip Linden, complete with 70's biker mustache, reversed Chinese symbol tattoos and an extremely odd pair of chaps-style pants that I refrained from asking him about.
One big theme that both men spoke about in some depth was that of the way technology has opened up the innate creativity of human beings. Ray Kurzweil talked about democratising the tools of creativity, taking down the barriers to creating art in all forms by putting the means to create high-quality music and film within reach of ordinary people. Philip Rosedale enthused about how much people can and will create if the means of production are free and unlimited, as they are in Second Life. Having spent a small amount of time in world recently, I would also suggest that the anonymity of Second Life goes a long way to fuelling some of the stranger directions of people's creativity, but Philip believes strongly that soon our online and real world personas will merge as we strive to maximise our social capital across all real and virtual worlds.
The next question, trying to keep things casual, was favorite TV show: Philip doesn't watch TV, but his favourite movie is Bladerunner, which he told me with a self-deprecating grin that acknowledged the predictability of that choice. Ray's favourite show is, surprisingly, Desperate Housewives (I genuinely didn't see that one coming). He went on to explain to me that the appeal of the show is it's blend of drama and tongue in check humor, a style he is attempting to recreate in the screenplay he is currently working on (The Singularity is near: A true story about the Future) in which Pauley Perette will be playing Ramona, his female avatar. To contrast, Philip Rosedale's online avatar is Philip Linden, complete with 70's biker mustache, reversed Chinese symbol tattoos and an extremely odd pair of chaps-style pants that I refrained from asking him about.
One big theme that both men spoke about in some depth was that of the way technology has opened up the innate creativity of human beings. Ray Kurzweil talked about democratising the tools of creativity, taking down the barriers to creating art in all forms by putting the means to create high-quality music and film within reach of ordinary people. Philip Rosedale enthused about how much people can and will create if the means of production are free and unlimited, as they are in Second Life. Having spent a small amount of time in world recently, I would also suggest that the anonymity of Second Life goes a long way to fuelling some of the stranger directions of people's creativity, but Philip believes strongly that soon our online and real world personas will merge as we strive to maximise our social capital across all real and virtual worlds.
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