Eric Siegel <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>           In an athletic bit of back-pedalling, I also agree with Bob
>           that virtual visits and physical visits are apples and
>           oranges, so to speak. However, a little true to life
>           parable:
 
IRCOM, Stanford and MIT have been combining art and technology for
years because they are all part of the same whole. People use to
learn music because it's a good way to understand math. People use
to learn to draw and to write poetry because they develop techniques
useful in technology. All art is virtual reality and hypermedia
doesn't replace the museum, it is the museum. We walk through a museum
making links, using art and a good museum exhibit points to a
multitude of links to the past and future, inside and outside the
physical building. Interactivity starts with the museum and is
enhanced with technology.
 
Well, now that I've got that off my chest, Nicholas Negroponte
has a new book out (I think it's called Digital Something, he's the
director of the MIT Media Lab) that's a collection of his articles for
WIRED. He's been saying for years that things are going to change
drastically as we move from atomic-centered thinking to bit-centered.
The fact that 2 billion people can, theoretically, read the same
book at the same time over the internet makes this a different world.
 
Robbin Murphy
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