Jaron Lanier

Jaron Lanier is a virtual-reality pioneer who has somehow managed to integrate these pursuits — computer scientist, software engineer, visual artist, writer, musician — into a coherent whole. Lanier moved to Silicon Valley in the early eighties and began programming computer games. His incessant tinkering resulted in the technology known as “virtual reality.” In 1984 Scientific American put him on its cover. Lanier writes on high-tech topics, Internet politics, and the future of humanism. He has appeared on the NewsHour and Nightline and gives lectures around the world.

— From May 2005