All but war is simulation: The military-entertainment complex

Configurations

Volumn 8, Issue 3, 2000, Pages 289-335

  Lenoir, Tim ^a  

^a STANFORD UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 2942619734     PISSN: 10631801     EISSN: 10806520     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/con.2000.0022     Document Type: Article

References (96)

1. William Gibson, Neuromancer (New York: Ace Books, 1984), p. 51.
2. For discussions of computer-mediated communication and computational sciences, see Richard Mark Friedhoff and William Benzon, The Second Computer Revolution: Visualization (New York: Freeman, 1989).
3. Other important discussions are in Information Technolog)' and the Conduct of Research: The User's View, Report of the Panel on Information Technology and the Conduct of Research (Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences, 1989);
4. B. H. McCormack, T. A. DiFanti, and M. D. Brown, Visualization in Scientific Computing, NSF Report, published as a special issue of Computer Graphics 21:6 (1987).
5. An equally impressive survey is the special issue on computational physics in Physics Today, October 1987,
6. esp. Norman Zambusky, "Grappling with Complexity," pp. 25-27;
7. Karl-Heinz A. Winkler et al., "A Numerical Laboratory," pp. 28-37;
8. Martin Karplus, "Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Proteins," pp. 68-72. For a consideration of computer-mediated communication and computational science in relation to theory,
9. see Timothy Lenoir and Christophe Lécuyer, "Visions of Theory: Fashioning Molecular Biology as an Information Science," in Growing Explanations, ed. M. Norton Wise (Princeton: Princeton University Press, forthcoming). For computer-mediated communication and notions of the self,
10. see Sherry Türkei, Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995), esp. chaps. 7 and 10; Brian Rotman, "Going Parallel: Beside Oneself," 1996:
11. N. Katherine Hayles, How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999), pp. 2-3.
12. The first reference 1 am aware of to the "military-entertainment complex" was the lead article in the first issue of Wired Magazine in 1993:
13. Bruce Sterling, "War Is Virtual Hell: Bruce Sterling Reports Back from the Electronic Battlefield," Wired Magazine 1:1 (1993), online at http://mvw.wired.eom/wired/archive/l.01/virthcll.html?topic=&topic set=: see esp. p. 7.
14. Ivan E. Sutherland, "Virtual Reality Before It Had That Name," videotaped lecture before the Bay Area Computer History Association, Xerox PARC, Palo Alto, 1993.
15. Ibid.
16. Other head-mounted display projects using a television camera system were undertaken by Philco in the early 1960s. For a discussion, see Stephen R. Ellis, "Virtual Environments and Environmental Instruments," in Simulated and Virtual Realities, ed. K. CarrandR. England (London: Taylor & Francis, 1996), pp. 11-51.
17. Sutherland, "Virtual Reality Before It Had That Name" (above, n. 5).
18. Ivan E. Sutherland, "The Ultimate Display," Proceedings of the International Federation for Information Processing Congress 2 (1965): 506-508; idem, "
19. Three Kinds of Graphic Data Processing," Proceedings of the International Federation for Information Processing Congress 2 (1965): 582-583.
20. These ideas are elaborated in Ivan E. Sutherland, "Computer Displays," Scientific American 222:6 (1970): 56-81.
21. Sutherland, "Ultimate Display" (above, n. 9).
22. Harvey Greenficld, Donald Vickers, Ivan Sutherland, et al., "Moving Computer Graphic Images Seen from Inside the Vascular System," Transactions of the American Society of Artificial Internal Organs 17 (1971): 381-385.
23. Ivan Sutherland, Robert F. Sproul, and Robert A. Schumacker, "A Characterization of Ten Hidden Surface Algorithms," ACf.1 Computer Surveys 6:1 (1974): 1-55.
24. John E. Warnock, "A Hidden Surface Algorithm for Computer Generated Half-Tone Pictures," Ph.D. thesis, University of Utah, 1969.
25. Carry S. Watkins, "A Real-Time Visible Surface Algorithm," Ph.D. thesis, University of Utah, 1970.
26. H. Gouraud, "Computer Display of Curved Surfaces," IEEE Transactions in Computers C-20:6 (1971): 623-629.
27. Other noteworthy graduates of the Utah program in the late seventies include Jim Kajiya, Ph.D. 1979, who developed the frame buffer concept for storing and displaying single-raster images; and Gary Demos, who started several major computer graphics production companies and had a big impact on the introduction of computer graphics technology in the film industry.
28. W. Bricken, "Virtual Worlds: No Interface to Design," Technical Report R-90-2, Human Interface Technology Lab, University of Washington, 1990;
29. idem, "Virtual Environment Operating System: Preliminary Functional Architecture," Technical Memorandum M-90-2,
30. Technical Memorandum ibid., 1990;
31. idem, "Coordination of Multiple Participants in Virtual Space," Technical Memorandum M-90-11,
32. Technical Memorandum M-90-11 ibid., 1990.
33. Senate Committee on Commerce Science and Transportation, New Developments in Computer Technology: Virtual Reality: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space, 102d Cong., 1st sess.. May 8, 1991, esp. pp. 33-34, 42-49.
34. E. Sutherland, C. A. Mead, andT. E. Everhart, Basic Limitations in Microcircuit Fabrication Technolog); RAND Corporation Report no. AD-A035149, Santa Monica, Calif., November 1976, prepared under DARPA Contract no. DAHC15-73-C-0181.
35. John Markoff, Phillip Robinson, and Donna Osgood, "Homebrew Chips," BYTE, May 1985, p. 363.
36. During this period, Kahn advanced from chief scientist to deputy director of DARPA's Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO) in 1976, and he became its director in November 1979.
37. See "Computer Hardware and Software for the Generation of Virtual Environments," in Virtual Reality: Scientific and Technological Chnlleiises, ed. Nathaniel I. Durlach and Anne S. Mavor (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1995), pp. 247-303, esp. fig. 8-4,
38. "The History of Workstation Computation and Memory," on p. 257.
39. Discussed by Scott Fisher in his presentation to the Committee on Virtual Reality Research and Development, Woods Hole, Mass., August 1993;
40. see Durlach and Mavor, Virtual Reality (above, n. 22), p. 508.
41. Also see Frederick P. Brooks, "Project GROPE: Haptic Displays for Scientific Visualization," ACM Computer Graphics 24:4 (1990): 177-185, esp. p. 184.
42. See Alvy Ray Smith's Academy Award citation: http://rcscarch.microsoft.com/ research/graphics/alvy/memos/award.htm.
43. R. A. Drebin, L. Carpenter, and P. Hanrahan, "Volume Rendering," SIGGRAPH88, Conference Proceedings, Computer Graphics 22:4 (1988): 65-74.
44. See, for example, Tony Parisi, "VRML: Low-Tech Illusion for the World Wide Web," in Digital Illusion: Entertaining the Futiirc with High Technolog)', ed. Clark Dodsworth, Jr. (New York: ACM Press, 1998), pp. 129-136, esp. p. 134.
45. Also see Ken Perlin and Athomas Goldberg, "IMPROV: A System for Scripting Interactive Actors in Virtual Worlds," Proceedings of SIGGRAPH 96, Computer Graphics (1996): 205-216, esp. pp. 205-206.
46. Martin Randall, "Talisman: Multimedia for thé PC," IEEE Miao, 17:2 (1997): 11-19.
47. Edward McCracken, "Inspired by Vision: A Letter from Ed McCracken," in National Association of Broadcasters '97 and National Association of Broadcasters MultiMedia World, 1997: http://www.sgi.com/fcatiires/studio/nab/indcx.html. McCracken also noted: "While there have been incredible advances across many areas of science and technology, the new Craylink architecture for supercomputers, new improvements on the space shuttle, sheep cloning-no advance has been more prolific, more ubiquitous, more wide reaching than consumer oriented entertainment developments."
48. See Ed McCracken, Strategic Computing: Defining tlie Workflow Across the Organization, Silicon Graphics Computer Systems Summary Annual Report, 1997: http://www. sgi.com/company info/investors/anmial rcport/97/cco.html. Also see the comparative financial data reported for 1993-97 at http://www.sgi.com/company info/investors/ annual report/97/fin sel info.html.
49. Kurt Akeley, "Riding the Wave," in Silicon Graphics European Developers ¥omm, Munich and Tel Aviv, 1998: http://www.sgi.com/developers/marketing/forums/akeley. html: see esp. slide 7: http://wmv.sgi.com/developers/marketing/forums/akeley7.html.
50. Jack A. Thorpe, "Future Views: Aircrew Training 1980-2000," concept paper at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, September IS, 1978,
51. discussed in Richard H. Van Atta, Sidney Reed, and Seymour J. Deitchman, DARPA Technical Accomplishments: An Historical Overview of Selected DARPA Projects, IDA P-2429, 3 vols. (Alexandria, Va.: Institute for Defense Analyses, 1991), vol. 2, chap. 16, p. 10.
52. DARPA Technical Accomplishments: An Historical Overview of Selected DARPA Projects Ibid., n. 50.
53. The training concept was to provide a means of cueing individual behavior, with the armored vehicle being part of the cueing. When individuals and crews reacted, they would provide additional cues to which others would react. Thus, the technology was to play a subservient role in the battle-engagement simulations, making no decisions for the crews, but simply and faithfully reproducing battlefield cues.
54. Van Atta, Reed, and Deitchman, DARPA Technical Accomplishments (above, n. 31), chap. 16, p. 13.
55. Once the decision had been made to remove BBN from the graphics portion of the project, Cyrus left Boeing and formed an independent company. Delta Graphics, in order to devote his full energies to developing the graphics technology for SIMNET. The initial contractor, BBN, continued with responsibility for the network technology, but with the needed change in architecture-i.e., with the use of microprocessor-based graphics generators.
56. See Jack A. Thorpe, "The New Technology of Large Scale Simulator Networking: Implications for Mastering the Art of Warfighting," in Proceedings of the 9th Intersemce Industry Training Systems Conference, November 30-Deceiuber 2,1987 (American Defense Preparedness Association, 1987), 492-501.
57. R.J. Lunsford, Jr., US Army Training Systems Forecast, FY1990-1994, Project Manager for Training Devices (US Army Materiel Command), Orlando, Fla., October 1989, p. 14;
58. cited in Van Atta, Reed, and Deitchman, DARPA Technical Accomplishments (above, n. 31), chap. 16, p. 31.
59. DOD Directive 5000.1, March 15, 1996, section D: Policy, para 2: Acquiring Quality Products, item (0: Modeling and Simulation.
60. U.S. Department of Defense, Office of the Inspector General, 1997, Requirements Planning for Development, Test, Evaluation, and Impact on Readiness of Training Simulators and Devices, cited by Committee on Modeling and Simulation,
61. Modeling and Simulation: Linking Entertainment and Defense (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1997), table 1.1, p. 17: http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/r)ooks/modeling/tahlel.l.html:
62. http://www.nap.cdii/readingroom/hooks/modellng/ (main url).
63. In 1999, video games alone grossed $6 billion. According to a recent survey by Entertainment Weekly of entertainment preferences in American households, 35% listed reading books as their favorite entertainment; in second place was playing video games, at 30%, while watching a video ranked 17%.
64. According to responses in interviews I have done for a project on the development of computers in medicine, and frequently mentioned in articles for the popular press.
65. See the discussion by Jeffrey Potter of Real3D in Moileling and Simulation (above, n. 39), pp. 164-165.
66. Also see http://www.rcal3d.com/sega.html.
67. For the program description, see http://www.stricom.army.miIJ.STRlCOM/PM-ADS/ ADST11J.
68. The R3D/100 chipset directly interfaces with MicrosoftO-compliant APIs (application programming interfaces), such as OpenGL'.
69. See "Company" at http://www.wi7hang.comJ.
70. Company Ibid.
71. Company Ibid.
72. For Steven Woodcock's biography, see: http:/Avww.cris.com/~swoodcoc/stevcgame rcsume.html.
73. Also see Steven Woodcock, "Interview on the Future of AI Technology and the Impact of Multiplayer Network-Capable Games," in \Vail Street Journal luteracth-e Edition (May 19, 1997);
74. Donna Coco, "Creating Intelligent Creatures: Game Developers Are Turning to AI to Give Their Characters Personalities and to Distinguish Their Titles from the Pack," Computer Graphics World 20:7 (1997): 22-28: http://wvw.cgw. coin/cgw/Archivcs/1997/07/07storyl.html.
75. General Charles C. Krulak, Marine Corps Order 1500.55, "Military Thinking and Decision Making Exercises," online at http://www.tediv.usmc.mil/dlb/milthinkJ.
76. For the PC-Wargames Catalog, see http://vvww.tediv.usmc.mil/dlh/iTiiltriink/catalog/ titlc.html.
77. For an interesting discussion of Marine Doom, see Rob Riddell, "Doom Goes to War: The Marines Are Looking for a Few Good Games," in Wired Magazine 5:4 (1997), online at http://www.wired.eom/wired/archive/5.04/ff doom.html?topic=&topic set=.
78. The book is published by Addison-Wesley. For more information, visit http://www. aw.com/csengJ.
79. Cited in Committee on Modeling and Simulation, Modeling and Simulation (above, n. 39).
80. Michael Macedonia, "Why Digital Entertainment Drives the Need for Speed," Computer 33:2 (2000): 124-127. Online at http:/Avww.computer.org/computer/co2000/
81. Andrew Pollack, "Trying to Improve Training, Army Turns to Hollywood," New York Times August 18, 1999. Online at http:/Avww.isi.edu/nyt uarc.html.
82. Krulak, "Military Thinking" (above, n. 50).
83. For interesting discussions of the Battle of 73 Easting, see Sterling, "War Is Virtual Hell" (above, n. 4), esp. pp. 6-7
84. of the online article. An important discussion of the place of the 73 Easting Simulation in military strategic planning is to be found in Stephen Biddle, "Victory Misunderstood: What the Gulf War Tells Us about the Future of Conflict," International Security 21:2 (1996): 139-179.
85. For details on the construction of the simulation, seejesse Orlansky and Colonel Jack Thorpe, eds., 73 Easting: Lessons Learned from Desert Storm via Advanced Distributed Simulation Technolog}; IDA D-l 110
86. (Alexandria, Va.: Institute for Defense Analyses, 1992);
87. Colonel Michael D. Krause, The Battle of 73 Easting, 26 February 1991: A Historical Introduction to a Simulation (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Center for Military History and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency [DARPA], 1991);
88. J. R. Crooks et al., 73 Easting Re-Creation Data Book, IEI report no. DA-MDA972-1-92 (VVestlake, Calif.: Illusion Engineering, 1992);
89. W. M. Christenson and Robert Zirkle, 73 Easting Battle Replicaton, IDA P-2770 (Alexandria, Va.: Institute for Defense Analyses, 1992).
90. See Kevin Kelly, "God Games: Memorex Warfare," from Out of Control (New York: Addison Wesley, 1994): http://p3niishka.absolutvodka.com/kclly/chl3-e.html.
91. On the role of the military in creating and sustaining the computer revolution, see Thomas P. Hughes, ed., Funding a Revolution: Government Support for Computing Research (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1999);
92. idem, Rescuing Prometheus (New York: Pantheon Books, 1998).
93. See the Interactive Digital Software Association's 1999 State of the Industry Report: http://www.idsa.comJ.
94. See descriptions of Perceptronics' recent work at http://www.perccptronics.com.
95. CIA Press Release, September 29, 1999: http://vvww.oc1ci.gov/cia/puhlic affairs/ press release/index.html.
96. See John Markoff, "High-Tech Advances Push C.I.A. into New Company," New York Times, September 29, 1999.