Bear, Greg - The Machineries of Joy.txt

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 Author: Greg Bear

 Title: The Machineries of Joy

 Original copyright year: 1984

 Genre: short story

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 THE MACHINERIES OF JOY

 © 1984 by Greg Bear.All rights reserved.

 Introduction:

 In October of 1983, I traveled fromSan DiegotoLos AngelesandSan Francisco,

 researchinga proposed article for OMNI Magazine. What I saw astonished me....

 andinfluenced me heavily when I went on to write the novel-length Blood Music

 andEon. Here was not the beginning of the computer graphics revolution, which

 hadoccurred decades earlier, but the beginning of the flowering of that

 revolution. I could hardly restrain my enthusiasm. I suspect the last few pages

 ofthis piece will date badly as time goes by, but they show my frame of mind.

 And the frames of mind of dozens of other authors, as well; the information age

 hastaken science fiction by storm.

 OMNI never used this piece, although they paid me for it. Nor did they use the

 hundredsof pictures I gathered, a selection from which would have accompanied

 it. Many people gave generously of their time, yet never saw their names or

 ideasin print. I hope this publication pays them back in some small measure.

 The circumstances described below have, of course, changed considerably. Digital

 Productions has changed hands and management; Robert Abel and Associates is no

 longeran independent company. The revolution has become even more stimulating

 andpromising. Its effects are everywhere.

 This article was completed in early 1984.

 THE MACHINERIES OF JOY

 "Dinosaurs!"The artist spreads his arms as if to embrace them. "I need the

 exactspecifications--gridwork layouts of bones, muscles, scale patterns." The

 artist'soffice is covered with drawings of spaceships and alien beings, strange

 landscapesand mechanical diagrams. "If I have those, I can put them into the

 computer. We can program eachmuscle, make the skin ripple over the muscles.

 Tell the computer how they took a step, how they fought..."

 And once again, dinosaurs will walk and fight. The artist is living a childhood

 daydream: he has the power to bring dead creatures to life. Even more

 remarkable, he has the power-- with the aid of dozens of technicians,

 programmersand fellow artists--to film objects that have never existed in any

 materialform and make them interact with live actors.

 But dinosaurs are a future project. The matter immediately at hand is a space

 battle. At night, within a stark white-walled enclave, the artist, director and

 techniciansit before a video monitor, examining the progressive stages of a

 nonexistentspaceship's destruction. Highly detailed ships-- complete with

 crew--are dueling to the finish. One spaceship is destined not to survive; its

 hullis disassembled in the first of six boxes on the monitor. The early stages

 ofan expanding blast are overlaid in subsequent boxes.

 The artist describes an explosion in space. "I'd like the whole screen to flash

 whitefor one frame. Next we see an opaque fireball--fuzzy at the

 edges--surrounding the debris." He demonstrates an expanding sphere with hand

 gestures. "Then we ramp it down to transparency as the fireball grows." (To

 "ramp" is to smoothly increase or decrease any function.) "When the shockwave

 passes, all the little stuff--gases and tiny fragments- -fly past and then we

 seethe big scraps, a little slower, not as much energy." His grin is gleeful

 now. The director nods in agreement; this is, indeed, an explosion in space, not

 yourusual smoke-and-fireworks exhibit.

 The stages of the explosion are being fed into powerful computers, isolated

 beyondglass walls at the opposite end of the studio in a pristine white-floored

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 environment. Artist, director and technician are playing god games in an unreal

 universe.

 Ultimately, it is all numbers, points charted in a space of three dimensions

 withina computer. Each number represents part of the position of a pixel, or

 pictureelement, millions of which go together to form a shape. It is the

 computer'sduty to keep track of the numbers, and the shapes they represent.

 Perspective, color, shadow, motion, must all be processed with scrupulous

 accuracyor the apparent reality will collapse.

 The numbers are then converted to signals which can be displayed on a monitor.

 The pixels assemble, and a spaceship is destroyed, frame by frame. When the

 resultis printed onto film, it will be indistinguishable from very high-grade

 specialeffects accomplished with painstaking model work.

 It will look as real as anything else in the finished motion picture. The

 artist, director and technician are, of course, fictitious, and the scenario is

 atechnological fantasy, not to be realized for years, perhaps decades to come--

 And if you believe that, you haven't been keeping track of recent advances in

 theincredible field of computer graphics.

 It is happening now.

 The artist is veteran production designer Ron Cobb, (ALIEN, CONAN THE

 BARBARIAN); the director is Nick Castle (TAG, SKATETOWNU.S.A.) and the motion

 pictureis THE LAST STARFIGHTER, a joint Universal-Lorimar production. Under the

 auspicesof Los Angeles-based Digital Productions, headed by John Whitney Jr.,

 allof the special effects for THE LAST STARFIGHTER are being done by digital

 scenesimulation--computer graphics designed to match reality. Using two

 powerfulCray super-computers and a phalanx of other machines, Digital

 Productions is taking a gamble--some say a big gamble--by committing itself

 wholeheartedlyto the future.

 The future of computer graphics will be extraordinary. Most of the experts in

 thefield--the best can still be numbered on two hands--agree that we are on the

 vergeof a revolution perhaps more basic and disruptive than Gutenberg's movable

 type. Communications and education will be fundamentally reshaped. The

 entertainmentindustry will experience changes far more drastic than the

 transitionfrom silent movies to talkies, and talkies to TV.

 The power that presently resides in the hands of a knowledgablefew, will soon

 beavailable to all.

 But first, back to the numbers.

 The world of the computer is a very simple one. Everything is broken down into

 bits, a bit being the information required to answer any question with yes or

 no; in binary, yes equals 1, and no equals 0. Binary numbers consist of chains

 ofones and zeros. (In binary, 01 equals one, but 10equals two.) More elaborate

 codeshave been created to relate letters and symbols to certain numbers--thus

 allowingcomputers to display both numbers and text. Other codes relate the

 positionsof glowing dots on a video screen using coordinates much like those on

 amap. A picture can be "digitized"--broken down into these numbered

 positions--and put into a computer, which can then manipulate the picture in a

 widevariety of ways.

 A picture can also be formed within the computer by charting key elements on a

 graph, feeding the computer coordinates and instructing it to draw lines or

 curvesbetween the points. Mathematical equations which determine fixed

 geometricfigures or curves can simplify the process; the computer can be

 instructedto draw a circle of a certain diameter around a point, or an ellipse;

 totrace out a square and expand it into a cube, and so on.

 In fact, a "space" is determined within the computer, having three or more

 dimensions, and any object can be described within that space, given

 sufficientlydetailed coordinates. If the object is simple, like a cone, a

 "lathe" program can rotate a triangle around an axis to form a cone, or a circle

 canbe turned around any diameter to create a sphere, much as a shape is spun

 froma block of wood on a lathe. More complex, irregular shapes take more

 complicatedinstructions, and much more time. Once the object is constructed in

 asimple line drawing, or "wireframe," additional programs can add a light

 sourceto give it highlight and cast a shadow. Colors and textures can be

 "mapped" on its surface. A point of view can be established, and what is not

 seenfrom that point of view--the back of the object--can be clipped, making it

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 appearopaque and solid.

 The process seems simple enough, but in reality the work involved in creating

 real-seemingobjects on today's machines is extensive. The most complicated

 methodsof creating objects in a computer--such as a technique called "ray

 tracing"-- can take weeks of computer time. Simpler techniques can reduce the

 timeto fractions of a second, but with a corresponding loss of color, shadow

 anddetail.

 Once the object's numbers have been fed into the computer, the computer knows

 whatthe object looks like from all sides, at any distance, in relation to any

 otherobject or perspective within the machine's memory. A nonexistent spaceship

 canbe made to zoom past a simulated planet, approach a much larger "mother

 ship" and dock inside a highly detailed landing bay, all in perfect perspective.

 The computer can then display the objects in two dimensions on a video screen,

 orsend signals to a printer to transfer images to film. Since the object has

 actuallybeen mapped in more than two dimensions, the computer can be instructed

 toproject two points of view, creating a parallax similar to that between our

 twoeyes. The slightly separated images can be combined stereoscopically for a

 realisticfeeling of depth.

 If the film image needs to be "squeezed" anamorphically onto 35mm stock for

 laterprojection on a wide screen, the computer can do that, as well. Any

 requiredlens can be simulated within the machine. In the 1950s, artists and

 programmersbegan to pioneer the techniques still being elaborated upon today.

 John Whitney Sr. was among the earliest, starting in the late 1940s. He later

 receivedthe first IBM grant to study computer graphics in detail, and was

 installedin a ground-floor corner window of the IBM building inNew York,

 displayingimages for passers-by.

 Bill Fetter began exploring the possibilities of wireframe animation at Boeing

 inthe late l950s, and assembled the first computer generated commercial in the

 late1960s.

 In the early seventies, Ken Knowlton and Michael Noll came on the

 scene--Knowlton working for Bell Labs, and Noll arranging for the first gallery

 showingof computer art. Noll's specialty was simulating "clay paintings"--made

 withplasticine-- using computer images. Many viewers couldn't tell which were

 picturesof real clay paintings, and which were simulated.

 In the last ten years, the progress has been astonishing; around the world,

 computersare helping to create images for scientific research, education, fine

 artand entertainment.

 Sometimes the divisions between these categories are erased; the enchanting

 beautyof a moving computer image can turn a prosaic enterprise--such as stress

 analysisof pipe joins--into art. The most extensive use of computer animation

 hasbeen in advertising. Already familiar to TV viewers are the plethora of

 "neon"-look commercials for banks, airlines and automobile manufacturers.

 Generically, computer animation relying on line graphics is known as "vector"

 animation. Using various animation techniques--inside and outside the

 computer--the lines of these "wireframe" drawings can be made to glow like neon

 tubes. This look has become so widespread that within the industry it is

 becominga cliche, to be avoided if possible. Filling in a wireframe object with

 color, shadow and texture is called "raster graphics" or "raster" animation.

 This requires a more powerful computer, such as the Evans and Sutherland, or the

 Digital Equipment Corporation VAX machines commonly found in commercial studios.

 Some interesting effects can be obtained by fudging (not a technical term). The

 surfaceof an object to be vector- animated can be covered with

 "cross-thatching," using more lines instead of full raster graphics. This is

 knownas "psuedo-raster" animation and can be charming, even though it falls in

 amiddle range likely to be used less often as equipment and programming

 improve.

 Crude raster graphics can be judged by "aliasing"--the appearance of the

 "jaggies" along an object's edges. Each pixel stands out against a contrasting

 color, and when the object moves, the pixels can appear to march along the edge.

 These can be eliminated by coloring alternating edge pixels in shades that

 mediatebetween the contrasting colors. The border is softened slightly, and the

 graphicsare said to be "anti-aliased."

 The most powerful computers available to animators-- the Cray series (the Cray

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 1, an expanded version called the Cray XMP, and a much smaller, even faster Cray

 2)usually reside in defense establishments and major research laboratories.

 Digital Productions is the only private effects studio that owns Crays. The Cray

 corporationis reluctant to release the locations of all its machines, but it is

 wellknown that the Sandia Labs and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have

 anumber on hand.

 By time-sharing--having the computers process their work when not otherwise

 busy--researchers in several such establishments have done important work

 programmingcomputers to "understand" and draw transparent objects, lenses and

 realisticlandscapes.

 Two of the most prolific of these researchers are James F. Blinn at the Jet

 Propulsion Laboratory inPasadena, and Nelson Max atLawrenceLivermoreNational

 Laboratories.Blinn's group at JPL animated the striking computer simulations of

 theVoyager probes' journeys to the outer planets, widely shown on network and

 publictelevision in 1980-81. Nelson Max has worked largely on graphic

 representationof biological processes. Using his graphics programs, he has been

 ableto predict how molecules will interact before lab tests have been made. Max

 hasalso investigated the effects of mutagens on DNA, and modeled the structure

 ofvery tiny viruses.

 After months or years of painstaking labor, computer artists display their wares

 atannual SIGGRAPH conventions. (SIGGRAPH stands for Special Interest Group,

 Graphics, a division of the Association of Computing Machinery, or ACM.)Private

 individuals, employees of giant research establishments and commercial film

 studiosgather to compare notes and keep up on the latest developments.

 C.P. Snow's "Two Cultures" are inevitably wedded in computer graphics.

 Not since Leonardo da Vinci have so many technical disciplines been required of

 workingartists. Not only must they have basic drawing and drafting skills, but

 theymust know at least the rudiments of programming. They must understand how

 lightreflects, refracts and diffuses--and be able to translate their knowledge

 intoterms the computer can digest. The artist can no longer stand aloof from

 scienceand math. New techniques can take him to the frontiers of theory. Recent

 workin the texturing of surfaces has used fractals, mathematical entities

 capableof generating very complex patterns. Perhaps the most familiar example

 ofcomputer animation with fractal-generated landscapes is the "Genesis"

 sequencefrom STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN, made for Paramount Pictures by

 Sprockets, the computer division of Lucasfilm's Industrial Light and Magic.

 One of the focal points for computer animators was the Walt Disney production of

 TRON.Information International, Inc., (known as triple-I), Mathematical

 Applications Group, Inc. (MAGI) Robert Abel and Associates and Digital Effects

 allcontributed their expertise; yet TRON contained only ten to fifteen minutes

 offull computer animation. The rest was accomplished with conventional special

 effectsand animation techniques.

 A great many of the people who worked on TRON have now moved on to positions in

 companiesaround the country. A few, such as Richard Taylor, are still involved

 withfeature-length motion pictures.Tayloris reportedly hard at work on a film

 calledDREAMER forParamount. In advertising, two of the biggest film companies

 havemade a major commitment to computer graphics. Robert Abel in

 Hollywood--long renowned for the beautiful combinations of live action and

 back-litanimation in his Levi's and Seven-Up commercials--assembled a computer

 graphicsdivision while assigned to do special effects for STAR TREK: THE MOTION

 PICTURE.Unlike Digital Productions, however, Abel keptall his other special

 effectstechniques, considering computer graphics as another tool, not an end in

 itself. "A lot of the stuff we do is combination," Abel explains, "where we

 combineminiatures and live action with computer images." Pure computer

 animation, at present, is more expensive than many other techniques, and in

 Abel's view, flexibility and variety are necessary to the production of

 commercialadvertising films.

 Bo Gehring, in charge of Bo Gehring Associates inVenice,California, originally

 cameto the west coast to do computer animation tests for Steven Spielberg's

 CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. The tests proved unsatisfactory but Gehring

 stayedon to found his own company--again, with a complete spectrum of

 techniquesat his disposal. Unlike Abel, who began as a documentary filmmaker,

 Gehring's roots are in computer graphics, but he agrees with Abel that

 commitmentto one technique is risky. As for getting involved in feature films:

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 "Ninety million dollars is spent each day on advertising in theUnited States,"

 Gehring says. "Feature films can't begin to match that level of financing. I'm

 securewhere I am."

 Both Gehring and Abel believe that computer graphics is still in its infancy,

 andwill probably have a major effect on all forms of visual communication. For

 themoment, however, neither is willing to make the leap of faith required for

 anoperation such as that being conducted at Digital Productions. And

 truthfully, Gehring admits that his financial backing is not equal to Digital

 Productions', which is supported by Ramtek, a major computer company."I am a

 bitenvious of what John Whitney Jr. and Gary Demos have come into at

 Digital--all that [computing] power. But I'm happy with my situation, and just

 can'tsee taking that kind of risk right now."

 Gehring also expresses an interest in digital sound synthesis. "I'm one of those

 peoplewho has to pull off the road when something really intriguing comes on

 thecar radio. I firmly believe that sound is at least the equal of sight in

 bandwidth--complexity of information--and synthetic sound is a fascinating area

 that'sbarely been explored." Another of the Big Three companies, R. Greenberg

 inNew York, is rapidly building its computer graphics division.

 Computers have revolutionized the film industry in many more ways than computer

 graphics. Virtually all commercial studios, whether producing advertising or

 featurefilms, use computers to control complex camera movements or integrate

 differentelements of photography. At Robert Abel, slit-scan photography is a

 stapleitem. The process was originally developed by Con Pedersen and Douglas

 Trumbullwhile working for Stanley Kubrick on 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. Pedersen

 nowworks at Abel, where he supervises other aspects of special effects

 production, including computer graphics. (Trumbull, interestingly, seems to

 eschewfull computer animation. In his recent film BRAINSTORM, even sequences

 whichappeared to be computer-generated were done using other techniques.)

 In slit-scan, a camera is mounted at the end of a long track, at the opposite

 endof which a piece of flat artwork is masked to reveal only a narrow

 horizontalslit. As the camera moves forward very slowly, a computer coordinates

 themotion of the slit up or down on the artwork. The result is a drawn-out

 imageof the artwork, stretched in perspective by the camera's approach.

 Computers are also responsible for the many forms of motion-control used to

 photographspace battles at Lucasfilm and elsewhere. Signals from a camera mount

 arefed into a computer, which memorizes the camera positions and can then

 controlthe camera for repeated passes. Different models, mattes and other

 specialeffects elements can be added with great precision.

 Computers are even involved in stop-motion puppet animation at Industrial Light

 andMagic. The "Go-Motion" computerized system was used in DRAGONSLAYER to

 memorizethe motions of an armatured miniature dragon as it was manually "walked

 through" its sequences.

 All these elaborations--from slit-scan to Go-Motion puppet animation--are likely

 tobecome passe, before the end of the century. Whatever the risks, Digital

 Productions isobviously where the field is moving. But computers have one major

 hurdleto leap before they dominate. Character animation--whether it be the

 fluidmotions of a Disney cel-animated deer, or a human being--is still very

 difficultfor computers. Computers are happiest when dealing with shapes defined

 bysimple mathematics--planes in perspective, spheres, cones, polygons and

 polyhedrons. Humans (not to mention Bambi or dragons) are not composed of these

 objects, at least not at first glance. Living characters are lumpy, bumpy and in

 constantmotion--all parts of them. Muscles shift beneath skin and skeletal

 angleschange. Facial expression is a nightmare of complexity, with hundreds of

 musclesproviding a bewildering variety of shapes--all of them familiar to the

 viewer, and therefore difficult to fake convincingly.

 For the artist, years of study are required to convincingly replicate human and

 animalshapes. The human mind is enormously more complicated than any modern

 computer, with millions of "algorithms" all smoothly blending in unconscious

 processes. How can a computer hope to match the work of a skilledcartoon

 animator, much less the reality of a human being?

 Tim Heidmann, at R&B EFX inGlendale, believes character animation is the

 stumblingblock of computer graphics. "When you think of all the expertise

 requiredto get a Disney- type character on film--including the distortion of

 reality, stretching characters to add life, exaggerating expressions--the

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 problemseems insurmountable." Heidmann does computer graphics for R&B EFX using

 amuch smaller Hewlett-Packard business computer. The HP manipulates wireframe

 imageswhich are then photographed and enhanced by hand in R&B's own small

 animationstudio. The entire system cost under $25,000, "What computersdo

 best," he explains, "is what human animators do with the most

 difficulty--changing perspective, drawing geometric shapes. And what humans do

 bestis most difficult for computers--especially a small system like ours:

 coloring, shading, characters." R&B combines the two with ingenuity instead of

 massivenumber- crunching.

 Digital Productions is hard at work using both ingenuity and brute computing

 powerto overcome the difficulties of animating characters in a computer. Most

 ofthis work is under tight wraps of security, but it appears they are building

 uphuman and human-like figures by creating "intelligent shapes" which will

 mimicmuscles on fixed skeletal frames. These "intelligent shapes" will be

 programmedto interact with other shapes--other muscles--around a skeleton,

 withinthe constraints of skin.

 Motion studies of animals and humans are programmed into their machines to give

 themparameters within which to work. Ron Cobb explains: "A computer doesn't

 knowwhere to stop. If you have a character's arm swinging, the arm in the

 machineisn't real. It doesn't have an elbow or a shoulder to stop it. It just

 keepsswinging in a circle until you tell it what the limits are. Then it has

 thelimits in memory, but you have to be very specific, very careful."

 The computer cannot intuit anything. It is literal. Everything must be described

 indetail. Consequently, the computing capacity and time required to control

 thesefigures will be enormous--at first. But the cost of the early stages in

 laborand money can be compared to research and development costs in any

 industry. The initial outlay is always greater than the cost of later work.

 One small hint of the coming revolution is provided by the locations of two

 majorcompanies relying on computer graphics. Cranston-Csuri, founded by pioneer

 computerartist Charles A. Csuri, is located inColumbus,Ohio. Computer

 Creations takes pride in being based inSouth Bend,Indiana--far from the

 advertisingcapitols ofNew YorkandLos Angeles. Electronics can deliver

 messagesand products around the world; in the future, location will be less and

 lessimportant.

 Size will also become less important. With computers, a commercial studio can

 beginoperations with only a handful of creative people. Pacific Data Images, in

 Sunnyvale,California, has only four employees, yet has already landed major

 advertisingand promotional contracts. With initial costs of less than a million

 dollars, entrepreneurs like PDI's Carl Rosendahl are already taking advantage of

 thebuilt-in flexibility of the computer. Costs are dropping, and software is

 improving, albeit more slowly than hardware. Within ten years, the big

 advertisingcompanies will be surrounded by smaller, tougher firms with equal

 capabilities. The bottom line will then be not money, but creativity. There is

 nolack of creativity. The computer images and motion pictures produced by

 artistsaround the world are dizzying in variety and quantity.California's

 David Em is well known for his architectural fantasies and abstractions. Paul

 Allen Newell has animated M.C. Escher-inspired tesselated designs that transform

 withenchanting smoothness and precision.

 Nancy Burson ofNew York(profiled in OMNI, "The Arts," June 1983) uses

 computersto digitally combine photographic images of people and animals. She

 wasresponsible for the portrait of Big Brother commissioned for CBS's tribute

 toOrwell's 1984. By digitizing and melding the portraits of the twentieth

 century'sworst tyrants, she came up with a hauntingly familiar, somehow

 benevolentand yet very unsettling hybrid. Much more charming is her mix of

 womanand cat.

 Em, Burson and Newell highlight the successes and problems of presenting

 computergraphics on the printed page. Em's and Burson's images are static,

 suitablefor magazine reproduction, but the charm of Newell's work lies in

 motion.

 Even more difficult to convey is the wonder of a live computer art performance,

 whereperformer and audience are one. Ed Tannenbaum of Raster Master in San

 Francisco has installed a performance art center in his city's public-access

 sciencecenter, Exploratorium. A video camera photographs people in a room as

 theymove about and then feeds their images to a computer. The result is

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 projectedin real-time (that is, live) on a large screen, allowing infinite

 varietiesof human-machine artwork. Children can dance and paint with their

 bodies, becoming their own kaleidoscopes.

 Educators inevitably become more involved with computer graphics as classroom

 computersproliferate. Simple graphics programs can teach even very young

 childrenhow to work (and play) with computers. Today's youngsters will find

 computersand computer art a part of their lives. This is where the revolution

 trulybecomes powerful.

 In one or two decades, at the present rate of progress, computers cheap enough

 forhome use will be capable of graphics even more sophisticated than those

 beingproduced by today's major studios. Graphics buffs will be creating,

 tradingand selling programs to generate different kinds of images--including

 imagesof realistic characters.

 Eventually, perhaps by the end of this century, a kind of visual typewriter will

 bepossible. Any scene the programmer/artist/writer can imagine, will be brought

 tolife using computer animation. As software and hardware advance and become

 cheaper, and as information and image networks expand, virtually anybody can

 becomea Cecil B. De Mille. The major requirements will be time and talent--not

 money.

 The greatest handicap to cinema at the moment is the dominance of accounting

 overcreativity. Faced with budgets of tens of millions of dollars, studio

 executivesare justifiably concerned that their products should appeal to large

 numbersof people. The result is often pabulum. Primary creativity is endlessly

 ignoredor second-guessed.

 Commercial television networks are even more handicapped; to satisfy

 advertisers, incredible numbers of people must tune in to their programs. Few

 artistsor writers have ever made anything worthwhile by pandering to the lowest

 commondenominator, yet this is the current state of most of network television.

 The printed word allows more freedom. A pencil and a piece of paper are all that

 isrequired for expression in print. The production of a book is measured in

 tensof thousands of dollars for an average press run, not millions.

 Publishing--for the moment--still allows a great many writers to create personal

 works. A writer can establish a reputation with only a few hundred or a few

 thousandsteady readers.

 Yet only ten to twenty percent of Americans regularly read books. Newspapers and

 magazinesfare better--but less than half of all Americans receive any of their

 informationfrom the printed word. What we have is a colossal failure of a

 communicationsmedium--print--to reach the masses.

 For many people, print is difficult to assimilate. It has many uses and

 advantages, but often it cannot convey information as quickly and efficiently as

 othermedia.

 The dilemma is clear. Print offers diversity and individual expression--as well

 asthe active participation of the reader, in imagining and fleshing out what

 thewords convey--but cannot reach as many people as television or motion

 pictures.

 Television and motion pictures appeal to the masses, but more often than not

 spoon-feedpabulum to a barely conscious viewer.

 By combining both print and vision, computers will break the money monopoly and

 allowmany more people to work with "pictorial narratives," a catch-all phrase

 forthe multitude of art forms which will inevitably develop.

 Robert Abel sees a future society with individuals becoming more and more

 isolated, physically, as the electronics revolution allows them to work at home.

 With increasingly sophisticated entertainment forms, there will be less need to

 leavehome for recreation. With more leisure time, the public will demand more

 entertainment. And with more artists able to produce complicated pictorial

 narratives, the demand could well be met with an explosion of creativity--if the

 audienceisn't already conditioned to textureless drivel. If it isn't too late

 evennow...

 Take a deep breath.

 We're going to enter a possible future, and it will take some effort to get used

 toit.

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 You're on a street. A woman approaches you. She appears to be wearing a jungle.

 You stare in amazement as she passes; to a distance of about six inches, all

 aroundher, you can see gnarled trees, vines and creepers, exotic birds, even a

 leopardlying in wait.

 She walks along a wall and the building suddenly smiles at her--the entire wall

 onemassive pair of lips in three dimensions. "Good morning, Miss Andrews," it

 says. "How may we serve you today? Shopping for apparel, or just out for a

 stroll?" AdWalls are formal and slightly stodgy by design. Virtually everyone is

 known, on sight, by ad companies who use computers to target not just groups of

 consumersbut individuals.

 The woman pays no attention and continues on. The smile disintegrates into a

 flightof wildly colored butterflies as you approach.

 "Distinguished sir," the AdWall says. Butterflies flitter around you. "I don't

 haveyour name in memory at this moment. How may Freepic serve you today?"

 You mumble something about wanting to find a computer store.

 "Chips'n'discs, the city's oldest computer store, lies but two blocks away."A

 mapappears in front of your face, then transforms into a speeded-up visual

 tour. You see yourself walking two blocks south, turning left, and entering the

 store. The image ends with a large-scale projection of the storefront. Symbols

 conveyinghours of business, product lines available, and even clerk's faces are

 overlaidon each side of the map.

 You make your way through parti-robed citizens and find the store. Inside, you

 marvelat the systems available. There are computers for computing, and for just

 aboutanything else imaginable. You can rent information networks, even gain

 accessto a world-wide library system for a low monthly fee. ("Less than one

 percentof the average household income!" a display enthuses. There are two

 billionsubscribers.)

 Your domicile can be turned into any environment you wish, complete with sounds

 andsmells. You can even create your own environment, using the Apple 89

 Worldmaker.

 "Occupation?" the clerk asks. The clerk grins and fades to transparency, then

 opacifiesagain, as required by law in the first few minutes of service. You

 realizeyou are being served by a very realistic hologram.

 "Writer," you say.

 "Oh, then you need a minezeye." It takes you a few minutes to realize the clerk

 means"Mind's Eye." The unit is quite small, the size of a cigarette case, and

 comescomplete with plugs to hook directly into the cerebral cortex.

 "The Mind's Eye is a Hair Trigger unit, taking instruction in basic Brainwave,

 spokenlanguage or even Touchcode, rather like typing. If you wish, it has a

 translatorwhich can turn a videotext into a visual experience. Plug the Mind's

 Eye into a Page Turner and you can interactively turn your favorite classic into

 amotion picture, just a you visualize it; you coordinate the action through the

 cerebralcortex plugs. Some training required," the clerk informs you

 cheerfully. Videotext combines visual and aural information with high-density

 symbols--symbols which both inform and trigger intellectual and emotional cues

 inthe adept viewer. Some videotexts compress a hundred flashing signals within

 afew seconds' time. The symbols are distant relatives of Egyptian

 heiroglyphs--and modern road signs. Some are based on the logos of famous

 businesses. Some are as stylish as Japanese calligraphy.

 Realtime units will soon be available. If you think it takes too long to imagine

 ascene, Realtime can supplement your brainwaves. If a jungle is required,

 Realtime has seventy different jungles in memory, and soon will have cable

 connectionswith real jungles, which can be digitized and reshaped at will.

 All computers in Chips'n'discs are, of course, Child Easy. In fact, the 1-Thru-5

 unitis designed to be used by an infant. It comes complete with Sensual Crib

 andaccess to the Sesame Net.

 If you're a fiction writer, you can peddle your creation on the Lie Wire

 (stet!). If you're a philosopher, your works can find their audience (for a fee,

 ofcourse) on the Mindbender cable. Historians frequently sell to the Pasttime

 Cable.

 On any of these networks, you can start out on the Low Rung and gradually,

 throughjury selection or User Acceptance (the ratings, that is) move up step by

 stepto the very height of success. A single work might reach as many people as,

 Page 8

 Bear, Greg - The Machineries of Joy.txt

 say, the Britannica Visual.

 Peripherals include MovieLife, a chip which can be dropped into your home

 computerto turn any 20th century film into a living experience for you and your

 family. If you'd prefer to see Humphrey Bogart star in THE MAN WHO WOULD BE

 KING, instead of Michael Caine, that can be arranged. If you'd like to see an

 enhancedcolor version of the original KING KONG, with synthesized stereo sound,

 MovieLife will oblige. Live actors are still in great demand. They frequently

 licensetheir images for computer generation, making a substantial second

 income--but virtually everyone acknowledges that a real actor is better than a

 simulation. Some actors have ruined promising careers by selling rights to less

 reputableretailers, who place their personas in all sorts of compromising

 products.

 But be warned--if you get too involved in all this, and happen to Drop

 Out--leave the real world and zip along the underground nets, where all sorts of

 unsavorystimulations are available--the Bug Police are tapping the wires every

 day. There are many legitimate adult services, such as FantaFem and Woman of

 Your Dreams, but many more balance precariously on the borders of the law, or

 fallcompletely offsides."Bookstores?" The clerk responds to your question with

 somesurprise. "We've heard of a few shops catering to the collector's

 market--and of course, there's always the Winston Smith Society. It meets once a

 monthto trade crumbling paperbacks."

 You look around the shop, at the profusion of systems that serve more to

 supplementor replace creativity than enhance it. "Don't you have anythingfor

 someonewho just wants to tell his own story, with his own images?" you ask,

 frowning.

 "Sir," the clerk says indignantly, "that's where this all begins. Not everyone

 isas privileged as you must be, however."

 You are reminded of electronic music instruments, decades in the past. Some

 becameso elaborate that you barely had to touch a key to produce a tune.

 Distasteful to the concert pianist, perhaps, but a great deal of fun for the

 dabbler.

 "Come with me," the clerk says, taking you in his ghostly hand. "Let me show you

 somebasic models. For the person who wants to create, rather than simply

 consume."

 You are led into a simply and tastefully furnished room. A boy and girl, no

 olderthan ten, are sitting before an extensive keyboard. Colors and vague

 shapesflicker in a cleared area beyond the machine. "Did we get all thenumbers

 rightthis time?" the girl asks. "We want it to be as accurate as possible."

 "They're right," the boy assures her.

 "Let's see it, then."

 The boy pushes a display key.

 In the cleared area, a tyrannosaurus rex appears in horrible, fascinating

 detail, tail swishing back and forth, walking on its six clawed toes. It opens

 itsmouth and emits a curious, bird-like squawk. "Oh, they didn't sound like

 that," the girl says, shaking her head vigorously.

 "How do you know?" the boy asks.

 "Let's make it roar."

 With a few nimble keyboard touches, they make the beast change its tune and

 roar.

 "Don't you just love dinosaurs?" the girl asks, clapping her hands.

 Your fingers twitch. Where was this kind of machine when you were a child? You

 stepforward and politely ask, "Here. May I play with that? "I've always fancied

 seamonsters, myself..."

 The Machineries of Joy, Redux

 Page 9