bruce damer's keynote at the presence 2008 conference, aula magna, university of padua (oct...
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Bruce Damer's keynote at the Presence 2008 conference, Aula Magna, University of Padua (Oct 2008). The session was titled: The Virtual World, projecting human presence into CyberSpace, StreetSpace, OuterSpace and BioSpace.TRANSCRIPT
The Virtual World
CyberSpaceStreetSpaceOuterSpace
and BioSpace
Projecting Human Presence
into
IThe Origins and Evolution of
the Virtual Worldin CyberSpace
Projecting into Virtual Worldscirca 25,000 BCE
Projecting virtual worldsThrough The Lanterna Magika (1671)
Then through the Edison Kinetoscope
in 1894
A shared experience: the Cinema replaced the earlier
Kinetoscope Parlors
…Then in 1962
For the first time,Human Presence is represented in
a digital virtual world on the screen
of a PDP-1 computer running Spacewar
Space War! in ActionSpace War Film Clip
…and in 1974, Human presence enters shared 3D virtual worlds in Maze War
Maze War in ActionMaze War Film Clip
…then in 1986 affordable personal computers are connected to dial-up networks
And Lucasfilm’s Habitat (and avatars) were born
Worlds Chat, 1995: where Avatars and Virtual Worlds first materialized on the Internet
Also in that year Steven Spielberg created the marriage of virtual worlds and Hollywood with Starbright World
1998: With the colonization of Internet social virtual worlds a new medium was born
1996
Alphaworld: 1,000,000 objects in two years
Explosion of Social Virtual Worlds platforms(Book Avatars by Damer – 1997)
Beginnings of Multiplayer Gaming Worlds
2003-present: Second Generation Social Virtual Worlds
Creation of the first large scale event in avatar cyberspace: Avatars98 Cyberconference
Elements: single large meeting spaceavatars, chat, web cams, streaming voice, bots
Visual and functional elements of Avatars98
Enhancing presence withimproved design: Avatars 99 & 2000
Enhancing presence withthe design of spaces: Avatars 99 & 2000
…and establishing presence through common media archetypes: Avatars2001
Other late 1990s experiments with mixed mode presence: Datafusion “videotars”
And in 1999, creating immersion through story in the Virtual Walk on the Moon with
Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart
Rusty Schweickart in Cyber Space - 1999
Rusty Schweickart in Outer Space - 1969
Rusty became our historical actor and narrator to commemorate the 30th
anniversary of the Apollo XI moon landing
IIExtending Human Presence
in OuterSpace through CyberSpace
A decade of work bringing virtual worlds as a presence tool to the space community
The beginnings of becoming Tele-presenton other worlds: Lunakhod, 1970s
An “avatar on Mars”, height of mast camera tuned to height of a human to embody presence for
mission operations: 2004
“Mars has now become a place”– Michael Sims, MER mission team co-investigator
DriveOnMars: DigitalSpace’s simulator/experience for the public (2004)
Dawes CraterAs photographed by
Apollo XV
DigitalSpace virtual worlds for enhancing robotic mission designers’ presence
Design challenge: traverse steep crater
wall’s on the Lunar south
pole, drill
Traditional NASA design process: spreadsheets, some CAD
DigitalSpace drive-able simulation: establishing key issues (navigation, thermal load)
Human presence in technologically enabled environments: extra-vehicular activities (EVAs)
Spacewalk simulations as cognitive enhancement training tools
Lastly, extending human presence into the solar system to the next destination: asteroids
IIIAvatars walk from
Cyberspace out into StreetSpace
2003: Avatars meet Fashion(Fashion Institute of Technology, NY, with Daria Dorosh, Galen Brandt and Steve DiPaola)
2006: The iDoublet ProjectAvatars walking out into StreetSpace
Inspiration
Designing and Building a Cybergarment
Finding Materials
Constructing
Finishing
Next phase: 2007-08, Cyberwearz “virtual” garment clothing my Second Life avatar
…and instrumention: SunSpots with tracking to motion-capture garment-to-avatar…
…project is continuing.
IVAnd Finally, can Virtual
Worlds evolve into a BioSpace?
Early exemplar: Karl Sims’ Evolving Virtual Creatures (1991-4)
Artificial Life: Concept begins in the 1940s, field named in the 1980s,
progress through the 1990s, 2000s
Creatures with genomes evolving in the simulated physics of a Connection Machine.
Evolving Virtual Creatures
1997, Banff Canada:Digital Burgess, A quest for life’s algorithmic origins
in the “Cambrian Explosion”, Biota.org
(Only at the very beginning of this thinking)
The EvoGrid: Creating an Origin of Artificial Life Virtual World Entities to Chemical Creatures?
EvoGrid The MovieA Thought Experiment
EvoGrid:Philosophical Implications
Will biologists (one day) declare these synthetic biological environments “worthy of study as a living system”?
Would an EvoGrid and harnessing the power of evolution become a tool for Humanity in the 21st Century? Would it become a mechanism for life’s expanded presence into the Solar System or for the survival and extension of life on Earth?
How does a successful origin of life simulation affect our sense of God, our presence in the Universe and the future of life?
New Book: Divine Action and Natural Selection
Damer: The God Detector
Upcoming book (launch October 27th, 2008)
(Only at the very beginning of this thinking)
Thank you, from Bruce & Galen
Resources and Acknowledgements Avatars Conferences, Contact Consortium: http://www.ccon.orgDigitalSpace 3D simulations and all (open) source code at: http://www.digitalspace.comProject EvoGrid at: http://www.biota.org http://www.evogrid.orgCyberwearz: http://www.cyberwearz.comHistory of virtual worlds: http://www.vwtimeline.org
We would also like to thank NASA and many others for funding support for this work. Other acknowledgements for this presentation include: Chip Morningstar/Lucasfilm, Rusty Schweickart, Daria Dorosh/The Fashion Institute of Technology, Daniel Kottke, DigiBarn Computer Museum, the team at DM3D Studios, Peter Newman, Ryan Norkus, Exploring Life’s Origins Project, Chimp65 Productions, Scientific American Frontiers, Richard Gordon, Peachpit Press, Ron Creel, Exploratorium San Francisco.