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Journalism of Courage
An MIT-ian challenges human perceptual limits in a new Discovery Channel show
A lot of Jeff Lieberman8217;s work deals with human perception. In October, the Discovery Channel will premiere Time Warp, a series that uses high-tech visual technologies, such as super high-speed video capable of recording 325,000 frames per second, to explore things that are outside of our perception. Lieberman, whose blend of art and science has already made him a rising star at MIT8217;s famed Media Lab, will be the host.
The handsome and charismatic 30-year-old roboticist and kinetic sculptor who doesn8217;t own a TV and lives in MIT housing, got offered the show in a cold call from a producer who had heard about his work at MIT8217;s high-speed photography lab. He took it because, he says, it fits nicely into what he calls his daily conflict between art and science.
8220;Every time I do art, I feel like I8217;m not serving utility in a direct way,8221; he said. 8220;Every time I do science, I miss the spark of the creative impulse. But I8217;ve come to realise it8217;s the same. In science or art, it8217;s about introducing people to new truths.8221;
On the show, Lieberman says the goal is to find things that are amazing yet out of our perception, and bring them into a range that we can comprehend. 8220;We8217;ve evolved techniques for taste and sight and sound, but we have just enough to hunt prey and avoid predators,8221; he said. 8220;But when you tell someone that the rainbow actually goes farther than what you can see, they have a tough time dealing with that. This show is about using science and technology to experience deeper things, to find the deeper sources of awe.8221;
Lieberman8217;s work ranges from the cutely clever to the absurdly complex, such as 8220;Absolut Quartet8221;8212;a giant 8220;musical experience8221; he created with Dan Paluska, a fellow MIT roboticist8212;in which a user entered a short theme into a web page, and the machine, on display in a New York gallery this spring, generated a unique musical piece with three instruments.
8220;He8217;s able to talk about science as something that8217;s very hip, and he8217;s a great person to communicate that to a whole new generation,8221; said Cynthia Breazeal, his PhD adviser in the robotic life group, where Lieberman is focusing on applications of technology in artistic expression.
BILLY BAKER, NYT
