Jaron Lanier
The man who invented VirtualReality as we know it today. Apparently he isn't much of a business man, though. There is some cool stuff at his home page http://www.well.com/user/jaron/.
Jaron Lanier also played khaen on the soundtrack for the movie 'The Three Seasons'. Of course I would know something like that. LOL. http://www.exhibitresearch.com/kevin/nyc/jaron/khen.mp3 -- TheerasakPhotha
He invented VR as we know it in pursuit of either the ability to really play air guitar, or to create a GraphicalProgrammingLanguage. I've heard the story both ways. Wouldn't surprise me if he was just trying to kill two birds with one glove.
- Jaron's virtual reality company was called VPL, which stood for "VisualProgrammingLanguage". Chuck Blanchard developed the VisualProgrammingLanguage that he used called "Body Electric", and David Levitt later developed that into the BounceLanguage, by integrating the MacromediaDirector ShockWave library as a multimedia display engine.
He's recently criticized Wikipedia in particular and Wikis in general. See http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge183.html.
Maybe he's not a great business man, but he's certainly a great self-promoter. After all, look at his hair and his decision to put his own picture on his web page? Why does one do these things if not to distinguish and promote themselves? Personally, I like the alternative look but I never fool myself into thinking it is not marketing.
- Of course it's marketing. Do you think people wear unmaintainable hairdos for practical reasons? Yeah, your choice of hairstyle should be based solely on practical considerations. So should your choice of clothing, home, and recreational activities. (In fact yes, they should. Why would you choose clothing or place to live for anything but practicality?)
According to the people I know with dreds, they really are fairly practical. I fail to understand how, but who am I to argue.
- This line of discussion is off topic and ridiculous ArtistEnvy. He's a musician: isn't that a good enough explanation for the length of his hair?