The Utilitarian Inventive Mind

[jomoco]

I have often been amused by some of the things that have been called art through out the years, and have determined that alot of it ( at least recently ) serves no useful purpose. The most meaningful art that I have ever seen is not to be found on any canvas ( though there are some good examples ) but rather in nature. And as we rush head long into the new electronic age of computers and realtime communications it has occured to me that it would be possible to reflect not just the beauty of nature, but many other useful things in our world via this new electronic medium.

Real time video technology and thin flat screen tv's along with satelites represent a unique opportunity to avail ourselves of not just natures beauty, but many other important and useful things surrounding us in our daily lives.

By placing real time permanent video cameras in all the spectacularly beautiful places that exist through out the world, and beaming the signals into our homes via satelite, would mean that rather than looking at the same old unchanging ( and in my mind rather boring ) pictures hanging on peoples walls, they would instead be able to see realtime images of their world on large or small flat screen tv's hung on their walls. These tv's could switch channels and allow folks to see what their morning commute looks like before deciding what route they'll take to work that day.

Another aspect of this advent would be having spectacular realtime views from homes that would otherwise have none due to their location in a dead end apartment block in smog city. Think of it, being able to watch real time images of surfers ripping it up in the waves of Maui while eating breakfast or skiers as they munch it going off Drop Out Wipe Out on Mammoth Mountain while eating dinner that evening. Or perhaps just the serene realtime beauty of the Alaskan mountain ranges hanging in front of your bed as you nod off to sleep.

This sort of art will I'm sure one day be available to us all, but it will take time and leadership of a high caliber to ensure that it's not just available to the filthy rich among us. The FCC has not done a very good job of it so far, but I see glimmers of hope now that Powell is leaving.

Here's to the future!

jomoco

[pyrocasto]

The problem would be speed. If you had a few hundred people trying to get that video on their screens, things would start to slow down. Also the video size would be HUGE, so you woul have to use crappy quality video feed, or less frames per second. You could instead have the picture change every few minutes, or even once a day so you still get the beautiful pictures during the night time. I personlly think once every 30 secs to a  minute would be perfect for scenery outdoors and such.

[pyrocasto]

Forgot, you could get the video plenty fast enough if they set up a transmision(sp?) station at the camera site, like they do for live television, but maybe a little better. I was thinking transmission through the internet for some reason.

[jomoco]

 The best aspect of the concept is that if implemented widely, it could be adjusted to suit each customers individual taste, be it artistic, utilitarian or otherwise.

It could even be used for educational or vocational purposes.

jomoco