Jaron Lanier

Jaron Lanier is a computer scientist, composer, visual artist, and author. Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2010.  His book “You are not a gadget" was released in 2010 and was named one of the 10 best books of the year by the NY Times.

He writes and speaks on numerous topics, including high-technology business, the social impact of technological practices, the philosophy of consciousness and information, Internet politics, and the future of humanism.  His lecture client list has included most of the well-known high technology firms as well as many others in the energy, automotive, and financial services industries. 

His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Discover (where he has been a columnist), The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Harpers Magazine, The Sciences, Wired Magazine (where he was a founding contributing editor), and Scientific American. He has edited special "future" issues of SPIN and Civilization magazines.  He is one of the 100 “remarkable people” of the Global Business Network. 

Lanier's name is also often associated with Virtual Reality research.  He either coined or popularised the term 'Virtual Reality' and in the late 1980s led the team that developed the first implementations of multi-person virtual worlds using head mounted displays, for both local and wide area networks, as well as the first "avatars", or representations of users within such systems. While at VPL, he and his colleagues developed the first implementations of virtual reality applications in surgical simulation, vehicle interior prototyping, virtual sets for television production, and assorted other areas. He led the team that developed the first widely used software platform architecture for immersive virtual reality applications.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica includes him in its list of history's 300 or so greatest inventors.  The nation of Palau has issued a postage stamp in his honor. Various television documentaries have been produced about him, such as “Dreadlocks and Digital Dreamworlds” by Tech TV in 2002. The 1992 movie Lawnmower Man was in part based on him and his early laboratory- he was played by Piers Brosnan.  He has appeared on national television many times, on shows such as "The News Hour," "Nightline," and "Charlie Rose," and has been profiled multiple times on the front pages of the Wall  Street Journal and the New York Times