It's been a while since I posted...gonna have to do better. I've put up my new personal website OrdinaryMagic where I've added a bunch of links to interesting virtual human stuff as well as Visual FX sites. I'm also a digital artist and my galleries are there as well. Some of you may know that recently I've been the Digital Eye columnist at VFXWorld.com in Hollywood and contributing editor at STUDIO\Monthly in New York. In addition I've been speaking and publishing work on virtual human design, especially virtual human teachers. I'm consulting on the design of very smart virtual human teachers that can track a child's progress, probe their learning style much much more.

Also if you visit My V-People Book site you'll find lots of resources and two conversational communities. First is the vhumans yahoo list and second is our on-line forums community where you can discuss everything from the nature of consciousness to the potential malicious nature of virtual humans, and everything in between. We've also been working with the ALICE organization, sharing ideas and methodologies for simulating conscious behavior. I'd like to invite you all to visit. You can go directly to the vehemence Forums with this link Virtual Human Forums

Well on to controversy. It appears that the US AID program is subsidizing Eastern European Visual FX houses which then undercut American VFX houses...What's with that? Not only is our Government encouraging big corporations to send highly paid US jobs overseas, they're also subsidizing foreign companies that can undercut our own. Will someone please explain the brilliant economics of that...For us? Sure it's helping the developing world, but at what cost. No only do we pay for it as tax payers, we pay for it with lost jobs. I'm not happy about this. I'm going to write an article about it in VFX World.

I just read an interesting book entitled "Mind Catcher" by John Darnton. It's a far out look at possible consciousness experiments using machines to provide pathways for the mind...It looks at the mind as separate from the body, and age old controversy. As "Anima" the author proposes that the mind can be separated from the body and that it can travel in a different dimension or medium that may exist on a subatomic level. He suggests that we may be able to provide portals for such transfer. Darnton was inspired to write the book by a personal experience of his mother's. His father was killed in the war and at them moment of his father's death, he appeared before the mother to say goodbye. He remembers this from his childhood.

It would be interesting if such a thing were possible and consciousness could be transferred into a virtual human carcus.

-P-