AUTHORS and HUMAN behavior

The article focuses on Jaron Lanier, an author and interdisciplinary scientist at technology company Microsoft. Topics discussed include information on his books "Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now" and "You Are Not a Gadget," career background of Lanier, and his views on human nature.

WEB 2.0, ANONYMITY, UTOPIAS, DIGITAL sound recording, TRANSLATING & interpreting, INTERNET & politics, and COMPUTER network resources

The article offers a profile of computer scientist and author Jaron Lanier, drawing on the author's interview with him. It focuses on how Lanier has become pessimistic about his early ideology of Web 2.0 Internet culture and digital utopianism. The author comments on Lanier's views on topics including the economic impact of digital music, the web service Google translator, and the global recession of 2009. The author also considers Lanier's views on the impact of Internet anonymity on political culture and mentions his book "The Fate of Power and the Future of Dignity."

Chief executive officers

The article explores how some professionals in the technology business are experiencing and coping with a bad hair day. Some of these people include Microsoft chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder Bill Gates, VPL CEO Jaron Lanier and New Enterprise Associates CEO C. Richard Kramlich. Other people mentioned include recreational swimmer Esther Dyson and International Data Group CEO Pat McGovern.

Technological innovations, Computer networks, Virtual reality, Computer simulation, and Cameras

This article reports that Jaron Lanier, a 41-year-old academic with long dreadlocks and big dreams, has been pursuing what might one day be the next big thing in cyberspace. He is pioneering what he calls tele-immersion, a form of virtual reality developed as a test application for Internet2, the superfast network being built by a consortium of universities. It is informed that tele-immersion uses up to ten cameras to collect images of a person from multiple perspectives; it transmits that data and projects an image on a screen, creating a three-dimensional "moving sculpture" by using head-mounted sensors that adjust the perspective as the viewer shifts position. Right now a single demo costs tens of thousands of dollars, but Lanier is getting commercial inquiries, and he predicts tele-immersion will be commercially viable in a decade.

REASON, ARTIFICIAL intelligence, INFORMATION technology, and INTELLECT

The author, Jaron Lanier, laments the trend in computer culture of reducing the mystery of human life by undermining intellect and offering definitive answers where there is still room for inquiry. He calls this a fake rationality exhibited when information technology claims to know what can only be discussed in terms of speculation. His article is prompted by a Silicon Valley (Santa Clara County, California) icon who predicts that computers will replace musicians in the next generation.

COMPUTER scientists, INTERNET & society, ONLINE social networks, and TECHNOLOGY & society

The article presents a profile of Jaron Lanier, an author and computer scientist who was involved in the development of virtual reality and is a consultant for the software company Microsoft Research. Lanier's ideas on the social impact of the Internet and online social networking websites are shared. His book "You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto" is discussed. Other topics include a history of virtual reality technology, Lanier's childhood, his parents, and career at Microsoft.