Some thoughts on the Carnegie Mellon Entertainment Technology Center which I got a chance to visit last weekend . . .
Don Marinelli gave a bang-up presentation on the center. Especially in emphasizing the reluctant convergence of fine arts/theater and engineering to create new tools for the future. A few of the concepts, such as multi-sensorial states of being, were a little un-nerving to contemplate. But Marinelli underlined that a revolution is now going on that allows more people to join the once exclusive club of performer. Avatars are cheap (and sometimes costly, Marinelli pointed out) and plentiful. More and more people are choosing who they are online. And interestingly, those avatars, have powers far beyond say Godot's Vladimir and Estragon. Vladimir and Estragon can become Godot, perhaps. Marinelli's speech also called to mind Kurt Vonnegut's "Who Am I This Time?", a short story about a man and woman who need to have acting roles to manifest their love for each other.
We also got to tour the ETC facilities, see the Hazmat game, play with the Jam-a-Drum, and talk with the marionette/robot (mobot?) Quasi, which got me to thinking about the uncanny valley and the Turkish chess-playing automaton of the late 18th century.
Posted by mastr at September 19, 2005 11:13 AM