Jaron Lanier is an American writer, composer of classical music and computer scientist. A pioneer in the field of virtual reality, he left Atari in 1985 to found VPL Research, Inc. with Thomas Zimmerman. He has received two Honorary doctorates as well as many awards for his work as artist and as researcher. He was Visiting Scientist at Silicon Graphics Inc., Visiting Scholar with the Department of Computer Science at Columbia Universit,y and Visiting Artist with New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program.
His latest publications include You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto (2010) and Who Owns the Future? (2013) for which he was awarded the Goldsmith Book Prize for best trade book and the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade.