Industrial Designer Syd Mead Shares Near-Future View

"...the house will become a place where you are - even when you’re not there."    --Syd Mead

Syd Mead, award-winning visual futurist, industrial designer and artist treated us yesterday via National Public Radio to a rather fun and sometimes slightly disturbing peak into our near future.  Mead consults with companies helping them to design entertainment, environments and products based on his legenary future-vision.  He designed the scientific worlds of StarTrek, Bladerunner and Tron; the interior of King Fah’d’s private 747; and the 360-degree format Jules Verne time tour for EuroDisney, to name a few Mead projects.

Luckily you can listen to the full 7.5 minute segment at All Things Considered, but a couple of things are just too fun not to share here. 

Mead was asked about the future of transportation – enter mainstream holography:

Mr. MEAD: "The future of travel involves getting there either physically or by electronic means of duplication. And as we perfect the whole art of holography, you will find that a lot of human contact, face-to-face, will be accomplished by telemedia, duplicating the person, much like portrayed in “Star Wars” when Princess Leia appears on his little, tiny holographic figure. And it’s reality reduced and then recreated at destination, and it’s very valid."

Mead guesses mainstream holography is less than 15 years away, but says it has been proven through technical history that we “always estimate too conservatively.” 

I have to admit, it was this one that really caught my attention - a new service model?:

Mr. MEAD: "Bill Gates is housed up in Redmond. He is buying the rights to some of the world’s best known paintings. So you will rent the picture on your wide-screen or your wall-screen. You’ll rent “Pinkie” or “The Blue Boy” or a Degas or a Rubens. And you’ll rent that picture on your wall on your screen for a certain length of time, just like cable TV."

Mead mentions fabrics that will instantly change colors and patterns, and tells us that Mercedes is working on automobile colors that will change on demand through shifts in light refraction.

It all sounds just a little like my current Second Life.

Hear the All Things Considered segment here.

You can purchase the transcript here.

January 2, 2008

Comments

[csven]

You've been on a roll lately.

For what it's worth, the Microsoft comment refers to one of the line items in my one, real prediction: http://blog.rebang.com/?p=50 . Wish I had the article I read back then on MS's odd acquisitions. It was a good read.

Fabrics and cars changing colors has been ongoing for some time actually and I mention it in my recent post linking those things to transreality Reputation systems: http://blog.rebang.com/?p=1415

The new tech in labs is making things "invisible" through a few different means. Military applications are driving this; they drove some of the chameleon tech we're talking here (vehicles and fatigues that mimic environment).

With regard to holography, I spent a fair amount of time researching that a few years back (only for a concept design on which I was working; nothing special). I'd say he's probably right. While it's been relatively slow in coming, holographic storage is probably on the verge of a breakthrough. After that we *might* see some holographic visual displays. I'm not as hopeful we'll see that inside 15 years though. Maybe.

[Linda/Znetlady]

csven, thanks for the links. The ideas of linking reputation to the environment makes total sense, and a pretty interesting thought tied to external indicators such as fabric. Mead also mentions implants as the next "big thing," but in a different context.

I've actually seen a demonstration of holographic transportation - a number of years ago. No predictions here of how far off it will be, but at least the term "telepresence" is working its way into the lexicon. Where language is, we are. :-)

[csven]

I think the fabric and paint will take off; the implants I'm not so sure will be as popular as he's suggesting. First off, there are some indications that implants may not be as benign as we think. According to a pretty reliable report, the FDA didn't do due diligence prior to approval for implantation of humans (and the circumstances are straight out of pulp fiction). Second, tattoo removal has become a burgeoning industry today as increasing numbers of people who got them in the 90's decide they don't really like them (just read another story about that last night).

Personally, I have a sense we'll see something unique pop-up on the radar. Perhaps a combination of conducting ink tattoos and wearable electronics. That might have more staying power since it could be subtle and allow for easy variability with a new wearable device.

With regard to the holographic displays, maybe four years ago or so there was an interactive display of some sort (maybe not "holographic") shown at some conference. The image hung in the air and looked pretty real from what I was told; plus there were sensors (laser-based, iirc) which could tell if someone was "touching" an element of the virtual device's interface. As the person interacted with the display, it changed accordingly.

Unfortunately I only read about it after being told of it by a fellow designer. A crappy read at that. And I've never seen images of it. So how compelling that technology actually is I don't know.

Thing that got me most about Mead's comment was how he said predictions are usually too conservative. While that might be true in general, it's not been true of holographic displays afaic. Back when that "Star Wars" hologram first hit the movie screen in 1977, holograms were supposed to be a reality in the "near-future". We're now into the fourth *decade* waiting for them. I'm wondering if holograms and videophones are on vacation.

[Linda Zimmer]

I've got to believe that wearable devices will be much more acceptable. Mead says we are accepting implants in pets (and children?), but I for one find it distrubing. On the other hand, we certainly accept them for medical purposes, so I guess it is entirely feasible someday.

Vacation would explain where holography has been. It certainly hasn't been making its presence known. I wonder if Cisco's telepresence direction is marrying those two concepts - maybe it is spurring innovation in another direction for now - video + "presence."

[csven]

Regarding the chip implants, you might find this of interest: http://www.spychips.com/blog/2007/09/rfid_cancer_story_catalyst_lov.html

And be sure to read the AP story linked in that entry.