Jordan

Podcast Post:
His laugh is infectious. I had to google him to see what he looked liked. While listening, I was imagining him looking like Steve Wozniak. Nope. Jaron Lanier does not look anything like I expected.

I appreciate how he speaks about virtual reality, well aware of the fact that it’s a double-edged sword. It’s an incredible leap forward within technology, but can also cause a lot of harm. The most interesting idea he discussed, touched on the way humans think while inside a virtual reality: we can change our environment to be whatever we want, but we rarely think of the idea that we can change our bodies to be anything we want. It makes complete sense, but that’s crazy to think about. From the moment we gain consciousness at birth, we acquire a sense-of-self. We know what it’s like to be in our bodies, we understand who we are and how our bodies function, but to immediately change our entire being only by putting a headset on is borderline incomprehensible. I don’t even know where to begin thinking about that. He mentions that deep, deep down in the recesses of the human mind, we can revert naturally back to our previous evolutionary stages if we see them “on” ourselves in the virtual world. His example is a tail. “Oh yeah, I used to have one of those.” 

The idea of creating a new body doesn’t seem universal. A digital out-of-body experience may be difficult for some, especially for someone who is older in years. Imagine spending 60+ years on this earth in the same body, and then, in a matter seconds you see yourself as an entirely new being. But, who knows? Maybe this will all change when I finally spend time within a virtual reality.  


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Sculpture Center:
The sculpture center was very interesting. The sculptures were cool, but I admittedly wasn't affected by the art in any way. The addition of the perceptive lenses didn't change much either. I have never been that good at interpreting art or viewing with a different eye. I will say, I was far more interested in the space itself than the art inside. What was the warehouse used for before becoming an event space? How much of it was original? Architecture and interior design is cool shit.

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