And the Red Light Was My Mind

I don’t generally concern myself with what other people are working on in this building. We’re busy enough around here and the last thing in the world I want is to get pulled into a room to look at a rough cut three times a day. So, I’ve come up with a strategy where I call people by the wrong names in order to foster an atmosphere of unapproachability. And for the last few years, it’s served as a successful way to get through the day with minimal effort.

But a few months ago, I began to hear rumblings about some new “Experience Lab” on the other side of the building. It involved something called “augmented reality” which sounded utterly ridiculous and the guy who was working the most on it was this young kid Garrett, who I’d been calling “Günther” so I wouldn’t have to talk to him.

But then I came across this video on the internet.

That specific piece wasn’t done at T2, but apparently this is the type of devil work that Garrett and the rest of the back room kids have been into.

I have enough trouble making a cup of tea without having to wade through a sea of floating banner ads. In the past, when people talked about “ad creep”, I used to laugh, because I secretly like the idea of an entire society being driven to madness by a constant barrage of urgent messages. But now that I see it in practice, I don’t like it at all.

When they portrayed this exact same thing in Minority Report, it was still dystopic, but at least it was pretty.

So, Günther. Or Garrett. Whatever your name is, please make your floating devil videos look more like the Spielberg version rather than the tea making example. If I’m going to have to submit control to talking 3D billboards, at least give me something to look forward to.

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