Musings on the Past, Present and Future of Transformative Media

[Ed Lantz]

Rick Lukens said that he's been creating transformative media since the mid-70's. Brings back memories. I recall touring the US in 1977 with Madelyn (www.madelynlavender.com) with a combo lecture/demonstration/multimedia performance in Miami, New York, LA, Seattle, Portland, Atlanta, Dallas and other cities. I lectured on Kirlian Photography then we created "fingertip aura photos" of everyone in the workshop before and after Madelyn's Cosmic Healing Music performance against the backdrop of my Kirlian multi-image art. People reported large mood shifts, and their corona images showed it, too.

This thing that we're calling transformative media - the intentional use of media modalities to inspire, uplift, evolve and forever transform individuals in wonderful ways - is nothing new. It has long been the domain of psychology, education, religion, art and even entertainment to deliver transformative experiences.

Rogan Taylor's well-researched book, "The Death and Resurrection Show" details how today's entertainment actually evolved from ancient shamanism. Ancient cave drawings created immersive environments that some believe were used in ritual along with drumming. Temples, mosques and cathedrals are immersive environments designed to communicate a religious cosmology or world view. Literature, art, ornate architecture and music are complimentary transformative modalities, with great efficacy in the realm of subjective experience.

The difference today is that modern media allows the rapid dissemination of transformative programming. Even in it's earliest days, the idea that electronic media could be a force for good was promoted by media pioneers. In the early days of television, for instance, there were great hopes for how the medium could change the world. Radio journalist and pioneering TV newsman Edward R. Murrow famously summed it up in 1958 (the year I was born):

"This instrument [TV] can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference. This weapon of television could be useful."

Disappointingly, it wasn't long after that Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Newton N. Minow gave this famous talk:

"When television is good, nothing — not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers — nothing is better.

"But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there, for a day, without a book, without a magazine, without a newspaper, without a profit and loss sheet or a rating book to distract you. Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland.

"You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western bad men, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, and cartoons. And endlessly commercials — many screaming, cajoling, and offending. And most of all, boredom. True, you'll see a few things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few. And if you think I exaggerate, I only ask you to try it."

Nearly 40 years later we have not 3 networks but 3,000+ and over a million if you count the internet. As in 1961, some programming can bring about lasting change, but there is also a lot of programming that is little more than chewing gum for the brain.

Muriel Rukeyser said "The universe is made of stories, not of atoms." Stories feed our minds with the building blocks of visions, beliefs, and possibilities. Good stories can take us places that we've never been, and allow us to dabble in "what if" scenarios. We seem to have a need for dramas, to act out scenarios, if not personally, then vicariously through films, books and other storytelling modalities.

As an aside, I wonder if the classic "hero's quest" mythology will evolve in these coming times. What are the new stories of our times?

Then there is music and art which can take us beyond the mind and into the deeper realms of emotion and unique states of consciousness. Opera uses music and art to punctuate drama and express emotion or subtle moods. So too do good films, of course. And good churches...

“Music has well established psychological effects, including the induction and modification of cognitive states, moods and emotions.”
- Dr. Norman M. Weinberger, MuSICA Research Notes, vIV #2, F97

"Visual exposure to natural settings has produced significant recovery from stress, as indicated by changes in physiological measures such as blood pressure and muscle tension.”
- Felf, D. (ed.) 1992, The Role of Horticulture in Human Well-Being and Social Development, Portland, OR; Timber Press

The science of neuroaesthetics is now revealing how art and music can activate unique brain states. Immersive cinema (3D surround cinema & audio) is a powerful delivery system for brain-altering media experiences, as is interactivity:

"The degree of immersion in an interactive VR experience seems to improve its efficacy in medical treatments for phobias and pain, performing better than 2D video games, for instance."
- Hunter G. Hoffman, Sci. American, August 2004

As we develop more and more powerful immersive media modalities, we will need to be increasingly mindful that we use these modalities in a responsible and intentional manner. Already, millions of children (and adults) are living a large part of their lives in virtual worlds. So-called video game addiction is rampant. The next generation of VR games will be even more alluring and addictive. People already shop online, work online, meet one another and play online. The next step is the online world coming "out of the box," so to speak and immersing us in a holodeck-like spatial augemented reality environments. You've seen the multitouch tables? They will be everywhere in 5-10 years. Cinema will be more immersive (see my writeup on digital domes), video games will take over our living rooms, and digital pixels will cover our buildings and streets.

So what content will we feed our brains through these experiences? That, of course, is up to us.

What excites me is the idea that beings with perfected consciousness (a highly balanced inner state of affairs) can communicate this state more powerfully through new media modalities. These advanced forms of media can literally take control of people's nervous systems, bringing them on inner journeys that could only be clumsily depicted in ordinary cinema. Just as laser lightshows in planetariums took psychedelica (invoking altered states of consciousness using light and sound) to new heights, the next generation of immersive and interactive media will bring people on meditative, revelatory, or mystical experiences, exploring the inner realms of consciousness, led by guides who've been there before.

So, while transformative media will continue to include art, education and a plethora of well-known modalities, add to this the possibility of intentional media invoking deep experiences of many types and flavors, helping us to elevate our "quality of consciousness," our inner state of affairs. The ability to sustainably shift ourselves out of undesirable states - without the need for pills - is just the beginning. Awakening to our true nature as powerful beings is our destiny, and future media has the power to awaken us at a core level. This is akin to a spiritual experience.

However, one cannot reliably activate elevated states of consciousness in others unless one is already there themselves... Hence, "true peace begins within." Media that awakens others rarely flows from intellectually contrived narrative or compositions alone. It requires the activation of deep experiences through "sympathetic resonance," the striking of chords in others by radiating these vibrations ourselves through nuances in the creative composition. New Age music, for instance, went downhill after copycat composers tried to mimic the deeply evocative tones that only beings who have glimpsed the infinite can produce, and flooded the market with "bubble gum" new age music. Many try to copy Carlos Santana's style and technique, but few have truly captured his soulful expression.

Let us awaken ourselves as we open the channels to transmit our awakening to the masses through our many creative works. Awakening is liberation and an opening to an infinite source of inner joy, authenticity and innocence. Or, as a neuroscientist might say, the intentional activation of highly desirable brain states.

I've attached a paper presented at the TransVision 2007 conference in Chicago alongside Ray Kurzweil, Marvin Minsky and William Shatner. I hope you find it inspiring. It was my attempt to explain "woo woo" transformational media stuff to a room of skeptical scientists, physicists, programmers and futurists, and include some real-world examples including digital pharmaceuticals, brain entrainment and virtual reality healing.

Please share your own ideas, links and creative works in this group discussion forum. Thanks again for participating!