In 1985 I was shown a short fractal program in BASIC. Not knowing anything about programming, I only knew that
changing some variables made the picture change in interesting ways. I had an epiphany, and discovered a
new visual language, with strong biological metaphors.
This new journey in algorithmic art led me to
Syracuse University,
where I earned an MFA
in Computer Graphics, under Ed Zajec. After graduating, I worked at SU for four years
helping researchers with data
visualization, and teaching programming to Art students and CAD to Industrial Design students.
I moved on to
UC San Diego,
where I served as Visiting Professor for one semester, under Harold Cohen. I taught software programming to Art students.
Then I bounced back East to
get my third degree: a Masters from the
MIT Media Lab.
Another bounce West landed me
in San Francisco where I began working at
Rocket Science Games,
prototyping simulation-type games.
After that I became Principle Inventor and second co-founder of
There.com.
I wrote the first line of code in 1997.
I invented the Dog, vehicle physics, and did most of the design work on Avatar-Centric Communication.
While working at There.com,
I adapted the artificial life simulation
Darwin Pond
to become
GenePool.
After briefly working at
Adobe
on the Acrobat3D platform, I joined
Linden Lab, makers of
Second Life, where I invented Flexies,
FollowCam, and
Puppeteering.
