0:00:00.721,0:00:03.976 Of the five senses, vision is the one[br]that I appreciate the most, 0:00:04.000,0:00:06.976 and it's the one that I can[br]least take for granted. 0:00:07.650,0:00:10.551 I think this is partially due[br]to my father, who was blind. 0:00:10.575,0:00:13.678 It was a fact that he didn't make[br]much of a fuss about, usually. 0:00:13.702,0:00:17.336 One time in Nova Scotia, when we went[br]to see a total eclipse of the sun -- 0:00:17.360,0:00:18.378 (Laughter) 0:00:18.402,0:00:20.491 Yeah, same one as in the Carly Simon song, 0:00:20.515,0:00:23.339 which may or may not refer[br]to James Taylor, Warren Beatty 0:00:23.363,0:00:25.195 or Mick Jagger; we're not really sure. 0:00:25.219,0:00:27.755 They handed out these dark plastic viewers 0:00:27.779,0:00:29.828 that allowed us to look[br]directly at the sun 0:00:29.852,0:00:31.119 without damaging our eyes. 0:00:31.143,0:00:33.879 But Dad got really scared;[br]he didn't want us doing that. 0:00:33.903,0:00:36.761 He wanted us instead to use[br]these cheap cardboard viewers, 0:00:36.785,0:00:40.445 so that there was no chance at all[br]that our eyes would be damaged. 0:00:40.469,0:00:42.739 I thought this was[br]a little strange at the time. 0:00:42.763,0:00:44.231 What I didn't know at the time 0:00:44.255,0:00:47.313 was that my father had actually[br]been born with perfect eyesight. 0:00:47.337,0:00:49.996 When he and his sister Martha[br]were just very little, 0:00:50.020,0:00:52.498 their mom took them out[br]to see a total eclipse -- 0:00:52.522,0:00:54.053 or actually, a solar eclipse -- 0:00:54.077,0:00:57.634 and not long after that, both of them[br]started losing their eyesight. 0:00:58.382,0:01:01.844 Decades later, it turned out[br]that the source of their blindness 0:01:01.868,0:01:04.676 was most likely some sort[br]of bacterial infection. 0:01:04.700,0:01:07.331 As near as we can tell,[br]it had nothing whatsoever to do 0:01:07.355,0:01:09.278 with that solar eclipse, 0:01:09.302,0:01:11.970 but by then my grandmother[br]had already gone to her grave 0:01:11.994,0:01:13.423 thinking it was her fault. 0:01:14.517,0:01:17.494 So, Dad graduated Harvard in 1946, 0:01:17.518,0:01:18.676 married my mom, 0:01:18.700,0:01:20.931 and bought a house[br]in Lexington, Massachusetts, 0:01:20.955,0:01:24.545 where the first shots were fired[br]against the British in 1775, 0:01:24.569,0:01:27.644 although we didn't actually hit[br]any of them until Concord. 0:01:27.668,0:01:31.242 He got a job working for Raytheon[br]designing guidance systems, 0:01:31.266,0:01:34.318 which was part of the Route 128[br]high-tech axis in those days -- 0:01:34.342,0:01:36.777 so, the equivalent[br]of Silicon Valley in the '70s. 0:01:37.583,0:01:39.942 Dad wasn't a real[br]militaristic kind of guy; 0:01:39.966,0:01:43.111 he just felt bad that he wasn't able[br]to fight in World War II 0:01:43.135,0:01:44.785 on account of his handicap, 0:01:44.809,0:01:46.591 although they did let him get through 0:01:46.615,0:01:50.352 the several-hour-long army physical exam 0:01:50.376,0:01:53.398 before they got to the very last test,[br]which was for vision. 0:01:53.422,0:01:56.064 (Laughter) 0:01:56.088,0:01:59.239 So Dad started racking[br]up all of these patents 0:01:59.263,0:02:02.732 and gaining a reputation as a blind[br]genius, rocket scientist, inventor. 0:02:02.756,0:02:06.704 But to us he was just Dad,[br]and our home life was pretty normal. 0:02:07.343,0:02:09.238 As a kid, I watched a lot of television 0:02:09.262,0:02:12.900 and had lots of nerdy hobbies[br]like mineralogy and microbiology 0:02:12.924,0:02:15.444 and the space program[br]and a little bit of politics. 0:02:15.468,0:02:16.688 I played a lot of chess. 0:02:16.712,0:02:19.855 But at the age of 14, a friend[br]got me interested in comic books, 0:02:19.879,0:02:22.729 and I decided that was[br]what I wanted to do for a living. 0:02:23.146,0:02:24.930 So, here's my dad: 0:02:24.954,0:02:29.954 he's a scientist, he's an engineer[br]and he's a military contractor. 0:02:30.855,0:02:32.654 So, he has four kids, right? 0:02:32.678,0:02:34.782 One grows up to become[br]a computer scientist, 0:02:34.806,0:02:36.734 one grows up to join the Navy, 0:02:36.758,0:02:39.000 one grows up to become an engineer ... 0:02:39.024,0:02:41.984 And then there's me:[br]the comic book artist. 0:02:42.008,0:02:45.738 (Laughter) 0:02:45.762,0:02:48.450 Which, incidentally, makes me[br]the opposite of Dean Kamen, 0:02:48.474,0:02:50.936 because I'm a comic book artist,[br]son of an inventor, 0:02:50.960,0:02:53.295 and he's an inventor,[br]son of a comic book artist. 0:02:53.319,0:02:54.548 (Laughter) 0:02:54.572,0:02:55.735 Right? It's true. 0:02:55.759,0:02:58.413 (Applause) 0:02:58.437,0:03:00.772 The funny thing is,[br]Dad had a lot of faith in me. 0:03:00.796,0:03:02.948 He had faith in my abilities[br]as a cartoonist, 0:03:02.972,0:03:06.259 even though he had no direct evidence[br]that I was any good whatsoever; 0:03:06.283,0:03:07.950 everything he saw was just a blur. 0:03:07.974,0:03:10.686 Now, this gives a real meaning[br]to the term "blind faith," 0:03:10.710,0:03:13.302 which doesn't have the same[br]negative connotation for me 0:03:13.326,0:03:14.799 that it does for other people. 0:03:14.823,0:03:17.967 Now, faith in things which cannot[br]be seen, which cannot be proved, 0:03:17.991,0:03:21.716 is not the sort of faith that I've ever[br]really related to all that much. 0:03:21.740,0:03:23.167 I tend to like science, 0:03:23.191,0:03:27.678 where what we see and can ascertain[br]are the foundation of what we know. 0:03:28.651,0:03:30.779 But there's a middle ground, too -- 0:03:30.803,0:03:34.358 a middle ground tread by people[br]like poor old Charles Babbage 0:03:34.382,0:03:37.167 and his steam-driven computers[br]that were never built. 0:03:37.834,0:03:40.883 Nobody really understood[br]what it was that he had in mind 0:03:40.907,0:03:42.400 except for Ada Lovelace, 0:03:43.160,0:03:46.268 and he went to his grave[br]trying to pursue that dream. 0:03:46.978,0:03:49.374 Vannevar Bush with his memex -- 0:03:49.398,0:03:52.375 this idea of all of human[br]knowledge at your fingertips -- 0:03:52.399,0:03:53.927 he had this vision. 0:03:53.951,0:03:55.793 And I think a lot of people in his day 0:03:55.817,0:03:57.756 probably thought he was a bit of a kook. 0:03:57.780,0:04:00.195 And, yeah, we can look back[br]in retrospect and say, 0:04:00.219,0:04:02.440 "Yeah, ha-ha, it's all microfilm -- 0:04:02.464,0:04:03.487 (Laughter) 0:04:03.511,0:04:06.597 But that's not the point;[br]he understood the shape of the future. 0:04:06.621,0:04:11.211 So did J.C.R. Licklider and his notions[br]for computer-human interaction. 0:04:11.235,0:04:14.104 Same thing: he understood[br]the shape of the future, 0:04:14.128,0:04:17.730 even though it was something[br]that would only be implemented 0:04:17.754,0:04:19.145 by people much later. 0:04:19.169,0:04:21.888 Or Paul Baran, and his vision[br]for packet switching. 0:04:21.912,0:04:24.069 Hardly anybody listened to him in his day. 0:04:24.771,0:04:26.963 Or even the people[br]who actually pulled it off, 0:04:26.987,0:04:29.597 the people at Bolt, Beranek[br]and Newman in Boston, 0:04:29.621,0:04:32.533 who just would sketch out these structures 0:04:32.557,0:04:35.093 of what would eventually[br]become a worldwide network, 0:04:35.117,0:04:38.735 and sketching things on the back[br]of napkins and on note papers 0:04:38.759,0:04:41.057 and arguing over dinner[br]at Howard Johnson's -- 0:04:41.081,0:04:43.471 on Route 128 in Lexington, Massachusetts, 0:04:43.495,0:04:46.728 just two miles from where I was studying[br]the Queen's Gambit Deferred 0:04:46.752,0:04:48.852 and listening to Gladys Knight & The Pips 0:04:48.876,0:04:51.044 singing "Midnight Train to Georgia" -- 0:04:51.068,0:04:52.071 (Laughter) 0:04:52.095,0:04:53.937 in my dad's big easy chair, you know? 0:04:53.961,0:04:55.898 So, three types of vision, right? 0:04:55.922,0:04:58.899 Vision based on what one cannot see, 0:04:58.923,0:05:01.692 the vision of that unseen and unknowable. 0:05:01.716,0:05:05.176 The vision of that which has already[br]been proven or can be ascertained. 0:05:05.200,0:05:11.725 And this third kind, a vision of something[br]which can be, which may be, 0:05:11.749,0:05:14.751 based on knowledge[br]but is, as yet, unproven. 0:05:15.477,0:05:17.531 Now, we've seen a lot[br]of examples of people 0:05:17.555,0:05:19.873 who are pursuing[br]that sort of vision in science, 0:05:19.897,0:05:22.851 but I think it's also true[br]in the arts, it's true in politics, 0:05:22.875,0:05:25.063 it's even true in personal endeavors. 0:05:25.087,0:05:27.736 What it comes down to, really,[br]is four basic principles: 0:05:27.760,0:05:28.959 learn from everyone; 0:05:28.983,0:05:30.309 follow no one; 0:05:30.811,0:05:32.218 watch for patterns; 0:05:32.659,0:05:33.838 and work like hell. 0:05:33.862,0:05:36.882 I think these are the four principles[br]that go into this. 0:05:36.906,0:05:38.737 And it's that third one, especially, 0:05:38.761,0:05:41.902 where visions of the future[br]begin to manifest themselves. 0:05:42.429,0:05:45.804 What's interesting is that this particular[br]way of looking at the world, 0:05:45.828,0:05:47.960 is, I think, only one[br]of four different ways 0:05:47.984,0:05:50.700 that manifest themselves[br]in different fields of endeavor. 0:05:50.724,0:05:55.207 In comics, I know that it results[br]in sort of a formalist attitude 0:05:55.231,0:05:57.290 towards trying to understand how it works. 0:05:57.314,0:05:59.545 Then there's another,[br]more classical attitude 0:05:59.569,0:06:02.152 which embraces beauty and craft; 0:06:02.176,0:06:06.208 another one which believes[br]in the pure transparency of content; 0:06:06.232,0:06:10.179 and then another, which emphasizes[br]the authenticity of human experience 0:06:10.203,0:06:11.621 and honesty and rawness. 0:06:11.645,0:06:14.449 These are four very different ways[br]of looking at the world. 0:06:14.473,0:06:15.625 I even gave them names: 0:06:15.649,0:06:18.396 the classicist, the animist,[br]the formalist and iconoclast. 0:06:18.420,0:06:20.960 Interestingly, they seem[br]to correspond more or less 0:06:20.984,0:06:23.555 to Jung's four subdivisions[br]of human thought. 0:06:23.579,0:06:26.367 And they reflect a dichotomy[br]of art and delight 0:06:26.391,0:06:27.606 on left and the right; 0:06:27.630,0:06:30.130 tradition and revolution[br]on the top and the bottom. 0:06:30.154,0:06:32.797 And if you go on the diagonal,[br]you get content and form, 0:06:32.821,0:06:34.062 and then beauty and truth. 0:06:34.086,0:06:38.172 And it probably applies just as much[br]to music and movies and fine art, 0:06:38.196,0:06:41.173 which has nothing whatsoever[br]to do with vision at all, 0:06:41.197,0:06:44.078 or, for that matter, nothing to do[br]with our conference theme 0:06:44.102,0:06:45.434 of "Inspired by Nature," 0:06:45.458,0:06:48.138 except to the extent[br]of the fable of the frog 0:06:48.162,0:06:51.430 who gives a ride to the scorpion[br]on his back to get across the river 0:06:51.454,0:06:53.664 because the scorpion[br]promises not to sting him, 0:06:53.688,0:06:56.222 but the scorpion stings him anyway[br]and they both die, 0:06:56.246,0:06:59.135 but not before the frog asks[br]him why, and the scorpion says, 0:06:59.159,0:07:00.358 "Because it's my nature." 0:07:00.382,0:07:01.537 In that sense, yes. 0:07:01.561,0:07:04.906 (Laughter) 0:07:04.930,0:07:06.160 So this was my nature. 0:07:06.184,0:07:09.298 The thing was, I saw that the route I took 0:07:09.322,0:07:13.167 to discovering this focus in my work 0:07:13.191,0:07:15.035 and who I was -- 0:07:15.059,0:07:17.286 I saw it as just this road to discovery. 0:07:17.310,0:07:19.533 Actually, it was just me[br]embracing my nature, 0:07:19.557,0:07:24.403 which means that I didn't actually fall[br]that far from the tree, after all. 0:07:25.540,0:07:30.075 So what does a "scientific mind"[br]do in the arts? 0:07:30.540,0:07:33.931 I started making comics, but I also[br]started trying to understand them, 0:07:33.955,0:07:35.106 almost immediately. 0:07:35.130,0:07:38.212 One of the most important things[br]about comics that I discovered 0:07:38.236,0:07:40.083 was that comics are a visual medium, 0:07:40.107,0:07:42.951 but they try to embrace[br]all of the senses within it. 0:07:43.073,0:07:47.140 So, the different elements[br]of comics, like pictures and words, 0:07:47.164,0:07:49.682 and the different symbols[br]and everything in between 0:07:49.706,0:07:50.893 that comics presents, 0:07:50.917,0:07:53.485 are all funneled through[br]the single conduit, a vision. 0:07:53.509,0:07:55.486 So we have things like resemblance, 0:07:55.510,0:07:58.750 where something which resembles[br]the physical world can be abstracted 0:07:58.774,0:08:00.536 in a couple of different directions: 0:08:00.560,0:08:04.160 abstracted from resemblance,[br]but still retaining the complete meaning, 0:08:04.184,0:08:06.901 or abstracted away[br]from both resemblance and meaning 0:08:06.925,0:08:08.181 towards the picture plane. 0:08:08.205,0:08:11.039 Put all these three together,[br]and you have a nice little map 0:08:11.063,0:08:13.178 of the entire boundary[br]of visual iconography, 0:08:13.202,0:08:14.987 which comics can embrace. 0:08:15.011,0:08:17.849 And if you move to the right[br]you also get language, 0:08:17.873,0:08:20.850 because that's abstracting[br]even further from resemblance, 0:08:20.874,0:08:22.874 but still maintaining meaning. 0:08:23.477,0:08:26.227 Vision is called upon to represent sound 0:08:26.251,0:08:29.822 and to understand[br]the common properties of those two 0:08:29.846,0:08:31.986 and their common heritage as well; 0:08:32.010,0:08:34.395 also, to try to represent[br]the texture of sound 0:08:34.419,0:08:38.135 to capture its essential[br]character through visuals. 0:08:39.136,0:08:43.243 There's also a balance between the visible[br]and the invisible in comics. 0:08:44.159,0:08:46.056 Comics is a kind of call and response, 0:08:46.080,0:08:49.222 in which the artist gives you something[br]to see within the panels, 0:08:49.246,0:08:52.248 and then gives you something[br]to imagine between the panels. 0:08:53.025,0:08:57.290 Also, another sense[br]which comics' vision represents, 0:08:57.314,0:08:58.599 and that's time. 0:08:58.984,0:09:01.901 Sequence is a very important[br]aspect of comics. 0:09:02.652,0:09:04.763 Comics presents a kind of temporal map. 0:09:05.946,0:09:09.582 And this temporal map was something[br]that energizes modern comics, 0:09:09.606,0:09:12.527 but I was wondering[br]if perhaps it also energizes 0:09:12.551,0:09:14.069 other sorts of forms, 0:09:14.093,0:09:15.525 and I found some in history. 0:09:16.606,0:09:19.290 You can see this same principle operating 0:09:19.314,0:09:22.298 in these ancient versions[br]of the same idea. 0:09:22.322,0:09:23.475 What's happening is, 0:09:23.499,0:09:25.841 an art form is colliding[br]with a given technology, 0:09:25.865,0:09:27.206 whether it's paint on stone, 0:09:27.230,0:09:29.627 like the Tomb of Menna the Scribe[br]in ancient Egypt, 0:09:29.651,0:09:32.255 or a bas-relief sculpture[br]rising up a stone column, 0:09:32.279,0:09:34.307 or a 200-foot-long embroidery, 0:09:34.331,0:09:36.308 or painted deerskin and tree bark 0:09:36.332,0:09:38.770 running across 88 accordion-folded pages. 0:09:38.794,0:09:40.959 What's interesting is,[br]once you hit "print" -- 0:09:40.983,0:09:42.840 and this is from 1450, by the way -- 0:09:42.864,0:09:45.997 all of the artifacts of modern comics[br]start to present themselves: 0:09:46.021,0:09:47.537 rectilinear panel arrangements, 0:09:47.561,0:09:49.329 simple line drawings without tone, 0:09:49.353,0:09:51.351 and a left-to-right reading sequence. 0:09:52.763,0:09:57.771 And within 100 years, you already start[br]to see word balloons and captions, 0:09:57.795,0:10:00.756 and it's really just a hop, skip[br]and a jump from here to here. 0:10:01.509,0:10:04.944 So I wrote a book about this in '93,[br]but as I was finishing the book, 0:10:04.968,0:10:06.884 I had to do a little bit of typesetting, 0:10:06.908,0:10:09.576 and I was tired of going[br]to my local copy shop to do it, 0:10:09.600,0:10:10.845 so I bought a computer. 0:10:10.869,0:10:12.543 And it was just a little thing -- 0:10:12.567,0:10:14.733 it wasn't good for much[br]except text entry -- 0:10:14.757,0:10:18.597 but my father had told me[br]about Moore's law back in the '70s, 0:10:18.621,0:10:20.098 and I knew what was coming. 0:10:20.549,0:10:23.247 And so, I kept my eyes peeled 0:10:23.271,0:10:25.312 to see if the sort[br]of changes that happened 0:10:25.336,0:10:27.946 when we went from pre-print[br]comics to print comics 0:10:27.970,0:10:30.844 would happen when we went beyond,[br]to post-print comics. 0:10:31.335,0:10:33.083 So, one of the first things proposed 0:10:33.107,0:10:35.461 was that we could mix[br]the visuals of comics 0:10:35.485,0:10:38.296 with the sound, motion[br]and interactivity of the CD-ROMs 0:10:38.320,0:10:39.526 being made in those days. 0:10:39.550,0:10:41.129 This was even before the Web. 0:10:41.153,0:10:43.114 And one of the first things they did was, 0:10:43.138,0:10:45.049 they tried to take the comics page as is 0:10:45.073,0:10:46.533 and transplant it to monitors, 0:10:46.557,0:10:48.558 which was a classic McLuhanesque mistake 0:10:48.582,0:10:51.081 of appropriating the shape[br]of the previous technology 0:10:51.105,0:10:53.166 as the content of the new technology. 0:10:53.190,0:10:55.670 And so, what they would do[br]is have these comic pages 0:10:55.694,0:10:57.329 that resemble print comics pages, 0:10:57.353,0:10:59.769 and they would introduce[br]all this sound and motion. 0:10:59.793,0:11:03.034 The problem was that if you go[br]with this basic idea 0:11:03.058,0:11:05.406 that space equals time in comics, 0:11:05.430,0:11:08.145 what happens is that[br]when you introduce sound and motion, 0:11:08.169,0:11:11.568 which are temporal phenomena[br]that can only be represented through time, 0:11:11.592,0:11:15.896 they break with that continuity[br]of presentation. 0:11:16.820,0:11:18.362 Interactivity was another thing. 0:11:18.386,0:11:21.153 There were hypertext comics,[br]but the thing about hypertext 0:11:21.177,0:11:23.886 is that everything in hypertext[br]is either here, not here, 0:11:23.910,0:11:25.068 or connected to here; 0:11:25.092,0:11:26.442 it's profoundly nonspatial. 0:11:26.466,0:11:28.919 The distance from Abraham Lincoln[br]to a Lincoln penny 0:11:28.943,0:11:32.028 to Penny Marshall to the Marshall Plan[br]to "Plan 9" to nine lives: 0:11:32.052,0:11:33.203 it's all the same. 0:11:33.227,0:11:34.420 (Laughter) 0:11:34.444,0:11:37.296 But in comics, 0:11:37.320,0:11:40.190 every aspect of the work,[br]every element of the work, 0:11:40.214,0:11:43.349 has a spatial relationship[br]to every other element at all times. 0:11:43.373,0:11:44.541 So the question was: 0:11:44.565,0:11:47.542 Was there any way to preserve[br]that spatial relationship 0:11:47.566,0:11:49.914 while still taking advantage[br]of all of the things 0:11:49.938,0:11:51.581 that digital had to offer us? 0:11:51.605,0:11:53.636 And I found my personal answer for this 0:11:53.660,0:11:55.970 in those ancient comics[br]that I was showing you. 0:11:55.994,0:11:59.334 Each of them has a single[br]unbroken reading line, 0:11:59.358,0:12:03.051 whether it's going zigzag across the walls[br]or spiraling up a column 0:12:03.075,0:12:04.603 or just straight left to right, 0:12:04.627,0:12:08.676 or even going in a backwards zigzag[br]across those 88 accordion-folded pages, 0:12:08.700,0:12:10.094 the same thing is happening; 0:12:10.118,0:12:12.904 that is, that the basic idea[br]that as you move through space 0:12:12.928,0:12:14.083 you move through time, 0:12:14.107,0:12:16.191 is being carried out[br]without any compromise, 0:12:16.215,0:12:18.246 but there were compromises when print hit. 0:12:18.270,0:12:21.186 Adjacent spaces were no longer[br]adjacent moments, 0:12:21.210,0:12:24.429 so the basic idea of comics[br]was being broken again and again 0:12:24.453,0:12:25.609 and again and again. 0:12:25.633,0:12:27.959 And I thought, OK, well, if that's true, 0:12:27.983,0:12:30.890 is there any way,[br]when we go beyond today's print, 0:12:30.914,0:12:32.674 to somehow bring that back? 0:12:34.065,0:12:39.302 Now, the monitor is just as limited[br]as the page, technically, right? 0:12:39.326,0:12:41.453 It's a different shape,[br]but other than that, 0:12:41.477,0:12:43.382 it's the same basic limitation. 0:12:43.406,0:12:46.406 But that's only if you look[br]at the monitor as a page, 0:12:46.969,0:12:49.329 but not if you look[br]at the monitor as a window. 0:12:49.691,0:12:50.938 And that's what I propose, 0:12:50.962,0:12:54.079 that perhaps we could create[br]these comics on an infinite canvas, 0:12:54.103,0:12:57.013 along the X axis and the Y axis 0:12:57.037,0:12:58.297 and staircases. 0:12:58.834,0:13:01.740 We could do circular narratives[br]that were literally circular. 0:13:01.764,0:13:04.826 We could do a turn in a story[br]that was literally a turn. 0:13:05.206,0:13:07.642 Parallel narratives[br]could be literally parallel. 0:13:08.977,0:13:10.694 X, Y and also Z. 0:13:12.239,0:13:13.561 So I had all these notions. 0:13:13.585,0:13:15.093 This was back in the late '90s, 0:13:15.117,0:13:17.948 and other people in my business[br]thought I was pretty crazy, 0:13:17.972,0:13:20.497 but a lot of people then went on[br]and actually did it. 0:13:20.521,0:13:22.244 I'm going to show you a couple now. 0:13:22.763,0:13:26.275 This was an early collage comic[br]by a fellow named Jasen Lex. 0:13:29.636,0:13:31.411 And notice what's going on here. 0:13:31.435,0:13:33.955 What I'm searching for[br]is a durable mutation -- 0:13:33.979,0:13:35.956 that's what all of us are searching for. 0:13:35.980,0:13:39.160 As media head into this new era, 0:13:39.184,0:13:41.676 we are looking for mutations[br]that are durable, 0:13:41.700,0:13:44.293 that have some sort of staying power. 0:13:45.237,0:13:49.341 Now, we're taking this basic idea[br]of presenting comics in a visual medium, 0:13:49.365,0:13:52.676 and we're carrying it through all the way[br]from beginning to end. 0:13:52.700,0:13:55.871 That's that entire comic you just saw,[br]up on the screen right now. 0:13:55.895,0:13:58.954 But even though we're only experiencing it[br]one piece at a time, 0:13:58.978,0:14:01.560 that's just where[br]the technology is right now. 0:14:01.584,0:14:03.322 As the technology evolves, 0:14:03.346,0:14:06.330 as you get full immersive[br]displays and whatnot, 0:14:06.354,0:14:09.124 this sort of thing[br]will only grow; it will adapt. 0:14:09.148,0:14:14.701 It will adapt to its environment;[br]it's a durable mutation. 0:14:14.725,0:14:15.890 Here's another one. 0:14:15.914,0:14:18.211 This is by Drew Weing; this is called 0:14:18.235,0:14:21.250 "'Pup' Ponders the Heat Death[br]of the Universe." 0:14:46.062,0:14:47.554 See what's going on here 0:14:48.579,0:14:51.579 as we draw these stories[br]on an infinite canvas 0:14:53.835,0:14:58.983 is you're creating a more pure expression[br]of what this medium is all about. 0:15:03.660,0:15:06.233 We'll go by this a little quickly.[br]You get the idea. 0:15:06.257,0:15:08.257 I just want to get to the last panel. 0:15:14.045,0:15:17.141 [Cat 1: Pup! Earth to Pup![br]Cat 2: Come play baseball with us!] 0:15:17.165,0:15:18.228 (Laughter) 0:15:18.252,0:15:19.852 [Pup: Did either of you realize 0:15:19.876,0:15:23.171 that eventually the universe[br]will be nothing but a thin, cold gas 0:15:23.195,0:15:25.155 spread across infinite, lonely space?] 0:15:25.179,0:15:27.801 [Cat 1: Oh ...[br]Cat 2: We'd better hurry, then!] 0:15:27.825,0:15:29.825 (Laughter) 0:15:31.517,0:15:32.667 Just one more. 0:15:35.144,0:15:37.089 Talk about your infinite canvas. 0:15:37.113,0:15:39.900 It's by a guy named[br]Daniel Merlin Goodbrey, in Britain. 0:15:40.263,0:15:41.660 Why is this important? 0:15:42.898,0:15:45.231 I think this is important because media -- 0:15:46.397,0:15:47.739 all media -- 0:15:47.763,0:15:50.074 provide us a window back into our world. 0:15:50.568,0:15:54.890 Now, it could be that motion pictures[br]and eventually, virtual reality, 0:15:54.914,0:15:58.093 or something equivalent to it,[br]some sort of immersive display, 0:15:58.117,0:16:02.234 is going to provide us[br]with our most efficient escape 0:16:02.258,0:16:03.676 from the world that we're in. 0:16:03.700,0:16:06.480 That's why most people turn[br]to storytelling, to escape. 0:16:06.504,0:16:12.897 But media provides us with a window[br]back into the world we live in. 0:16:13.255,0:16:16.398 And when media evolve 0:16:16.422,0:16:21.399 so that the identity of the media[br]becomes increasingly unique -- 0:16:21.423,0:16:24.623 because what you're looking at[br]is comics cubed, 0:16:24.647,0:16:27.022 you're looking at comics[br]that are more comics-like 0:16:27.046,0:16:28.641 than they've ever been before -- 0:16:28.665,0:16:31.317 when that happens, you provide[br]people with multiple ways 0:16:31.341,0:16:35.319 of reentering the world[br]through different windows. 0:16:35.343,0:16:39.110 And when you do that, it allows them[br]to triangulate the world they live in 0:16:39.134,0:16:40.509 and see its shape. 0:16:40.533,0:16:42.310 That's why I think this is important. 0:16:42.334,0:16:44.389 One of many reasons,[br]but I've got to go now. 0:16:44.413,0:16:45.563 Thank you for having me.