Posts tagged with Global Nerding

Hello…My name is Boswell and I’m a musician, movie maker, and software engineer. I’ve been employed by AMD for over twelve years now. Eight years ago, I turned in my IEEE membership card for life in show business but I didn’t actually leave my cubical. Show business became my day job at AMD. My self-righteous engineering brethren might snide “that could be said of anyone who becomes a marketing guy”. No argument there but I’m talking about the media creation side of the entertainment market and not PowerPoint animation.

It’s been an awesome journey for a guy who dropped out of music school and then became an engineer. My title is now Director of Digital Media and Entertainment and I’m blogging to report on my field research and adventures of the past eight years watching the entertainment industry embrace technology. This first blog is intended to give only an introduction to some of my views but subsequent blogs will be dialogs with the world’s top creative minds. Check this out…..www.amd64live.com

In the course of these past eight years my team and I have been allowed to work directly with some very unique people who use technology in creative pursuits like the directors George Lucas and Robert Rodriguez not to mention a host of technology based musicians like Mark Knopfler, BT, and Dweezil Zappa. As well as some amazing recording engineers like Phil Ramone, Elliot Scheiner, and Frank Filipetti.

These last eight years have been almost a Galapagos experience of a life time. I’ve been given the chance to observe how technology has impacted the creative community and their end creations in a subtle but profound way that has implications for anyone who uses a PC for creative endeavors or to experience those creations.

The PC industry and culture has completed an important first phase. It has successfully turned a typewriter into word processor…pop the cork. I’m referring to productivity applications or electronic manual labor. That phase is like classical physics and it’s understood. The current phase finds us venturing into a quantum perspective because computers are impacting our minds and the way we create and the quality of experiencing what we create. This phase is just beginning in the mainstream but has been going on the creative space since computers were embraced there.

As a species and culture, we’ve slowly but surely come to accept limitations of technology and some of us believe we’re stupid because we don’t resonant with some of these products. We’re used to struggling, waiting, and being tentative. I’ve witnessed even some top creative minds adjust their visionary aspirations to conform to what the technology will allow as far as render time for effects etc. I believe this mindset is bad for humankind. The implications affect the top creative minds to the average consumer.

I believe the most important computer you’ll ever own is the one that sits on your shoulders. I also believe you should judge harshly any technology or technology culture that dares to come into that rarefied atmosphere of your mind where the creative process begins. My friend the director Robert Rodriguez likes to say, “The movie set is the mind”. He begins his creative process with a pure and unlimited picture in his head then uses technology to realize it. He never compromises that vision. If the computers don’t measure up, he finds new computers. He remains a guerrilla movie maker but at a highly technical level. I think that mindset is good for the planet. George Lucas envisioned Star Wars before there was a computer-based special effects industry. Instead he invented the special effects industry to realize his vision. I respect that approach. The computer industry should approach the human mind and user experience with reverence. Enough preaching.

I want to engage in a conversation to help shine a light on this trend which I have named Global Nerding. Are we conforming our minds to the machines and their boundaries? How do we measure the optimal computer experience? If we’re all so smart why can’t the masses use this stuff? How do you use computers to create? Please let me hear from you.

Charlie Boswell is Director of Digital Media and Entertainment at AMD.  His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.