The Military Industrial Light & Magic Complex

Julian Bleecker, Ph.D.Assistant ProfessorInteractive Media Division, School of Cinema-TVResearch FellowAnnenberg Center for CommunicationUniversity of Southern California

Avoiding Ender’s Folly

Technology, Culture & Entertainment

How are they drawn together?

What makes technology cultural?

What makes a relationship between entertainment and technology?

1. War, Entertainment & Hollywood

Hollywood Film Rallies A Nation To War

Film Stars Take Up The Cause of War

2. Post War — An Immense Military Establishment

Eisenhower Farewell Address

Eisenhower Farewell Address

"This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence-economic, political, even spiritual-is felt in every city, every state house, every office of the Federal government...In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."

3. Forty Years Later:The Military Industrial Complex?

What is the “complex” today?

Computer Graphics Comes Into Its Own

Ivan Sutherland

Head Mounted Display

Ivan Sutherland

Dave Evans & Ivan Sutherland

University of Utah, Computer Science

Dave Evans & Ivan Sutherland

Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation

Evans & Sutherland Solutions

Evans & Sutherland Digistar

E&S Network

Alan Kay ~ PARC/Disney ImagineeringJohn Warnock ~ Adobe/MacromediaNolan Bushnell ~ AtariEd Catmull ~ Pixar/Academy AwardJim Clark ~ SGI/Netscape

SGI -> Industrial Light & Magic

Military Industrial Light & Magic Complex

4. Why Is The Military In Show Business?

Simulation = Rehearsal

Shocking & Awe-Inspiring Performance

Blowing Things Up

Embedded Algorithms To

Knock Things Down

5. Playful Translations Between 2nd Life Into 1st Life: Avoiding Ender’s Folly

How To Couple 2nd Life Worlds & 1st Life Worlds

In A Life Affirming Way?

This is weird

Dance Dance Revolution

Feeding Yoshi

Pet Rock Star

Vis-a-Vis Games

Speculation

Suppose 1st Life Was Connected To 2nd Life

Directly..And We Knew It?

Would That Be An Advancement in Computer Entertainment?

Supppose SimCity Translated From 2nd Life to 1st Life?

Thank You

thx to tiaragirl, callmestream & rom23 for the flickr images. bruce sterling & tim lenoir for inspiration