Canon EOS 5D Mark II
ƒ/2
100 mm
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3200

“Technology is capable of expressing generosity. And we need to demand that.”

“The computer input and output are co-located. We use space as the solvent.”

— John Underkoffler, surrounded by a ring of glowing red sensors, making the work he did for the movie real.

8 responses to “Minority Report”

  1. I guess that it is a mocap system – the red circles are i.r. sources.

  2. More details and video of the Oblong Spatial Operating Environment

  3. The computer enables disintermediation to happen in an even wider context. The orchestra used to be the middle-man between composer and conductor. A Spatial Operating Environment would appear to be the next step in getting rid of those pesky high-maintenance musicians.

  4. good points sprklg and jitze, both – especially interesting to think of real time interaction with waveforms and effects process models for sonic output. i dread to think of this being transposed to large-scale electronic music gatherings, though – with tens of thousands of people simultaneously facing a tiny weeble frenetically throwing comedy shapes in the air as part of some ill-conceived "rave ballet" 🙂

    related video: Finnish electrowizard Erkki Kurenniemi pre-empts the eventual appearance of MIDI by some 11 years… but watch / listen with caution 😉

  5. Heh, we tried that at our 1996 party, with D’Cuckoo’s MIDI ball

    a giant, wireless, helium-filled sphere, let loose to volley about over the crowd. Each touch triggers new sounds and visuals while the band lays down the bass line.

  6. awesome!! a MIDI ball, literally 🙂 – and the story of the Hotmail trade is also fantastic…

    ’96: very close to when i registered "biotron" – after randomly flicking through an old Marvel comic – #73 here – (in 30 seconds, with only memory of the word "Behemoth"… how i love the internet) that i picked up in the Bahamas aged 4 in 1979, finding an advert for the Micronauts, in order to gently send up the daft nom de plume of another DJ – "GK Machine" – who had invited me to guest at a Goa trance / psychedelic rave in Glasgow… [aside: story related about semi-resident DJ Oberon, who – in discussion with a close friend of mine – promptly broke away mid-conversation because his time to mix was nigh, prompting the apology: "excuse me gentlemen, i’ve got to cut this short to go and open some chakras…"]

    i’ve had a few offers of raw cash for this address – no interesting GIFs, mind – over the years… still going strong… hardly ever use it 🙂

  7. digressions and free association is welcome, surely? 🙂

    i was sad never to have met the man, having bought Taanila’s doc back in 2003 and harped on about him to Steve some years ago; watched it again recently and anyone interested in a playful, creative and bitingly existential interpretation of the implications wrought by Moore’s Law would also enjoy it.

    if you don’t mind my asking, sprklg, how did you come to meet him? is there anything that springs to mind you can share? we can discuss this in private rather than completely hijack the thread if you like 🙂

  8. gosh, i’m sure i had read that he died recently somewhere… (hence my remarks in the past tense above) – how embarrassing!

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