MIT Media Lab Professors: Nicholas Negroponte, Andrew Lippman, and Walter Bender
Press Release | Video
Negroponte and other Scholars from the MIT Media Lab Address the Congressional Internet Caucus
Scholars Discuss Opportunities and Technologies of the Future
Washington, D.C. July 24, 2002 - The Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee featured Nicholas Negroponte, Walter Bender and Andrew Lippman in the first event of the Digital Future Series. Nicholas Negroponte, co-founder and director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Laboratory, has been with MIT for 42 years. Professor Negroponte opened by saying, "The Media Lab's mission is in some degree to be the counter-intuitive place, we try to do things that fly in the face of common-lore. If projects become fashionable or bandwagons we try to get out of them. We have created a controversial but very innovative lab." Bender and Lippman, prominent scholars at the MIT Media Laboratory, also addressed Members of Congress, Congressional Staff and press about the many developing theories and technologies coming to fruition at the laboratory. Dr. Lippman promised, "Whatever you can imagine, we can build." Professor Bender used this opportunity to help policymakers "embrace change." Many of the technologies and theories discussed, from communicating with cells within the body to spectrum allocation, will not be complete until the distant future. For policymakers, this glimpse into the future of technology can help them to better develop a flexible framework that can nurture such technologies.
Senator Conrad Burns kicked off the series describing the MIT Media Lab by saying, "This is an institution that has provided this country with so much technology and so many innovative new ideas and it continues to be one of the leaders of the world in new technologies." Congressman Michael Capuano represents the 8th district of Massachusetts that includes MIT and the Media Laboratory, remarked, "The people at the Media Lab are the best people in the world in trying to understand two things: number one, what is going to be next and number two, how it is going to affect our daily lives."
The Digital Future series hopes to feature other scholars who work on the forefront of technology theory and development. The series is hosted by the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee in conjunction with the Internet Caucus and its Co-Chairs, Senators Leahy and Burns and Congressmen Goodlatte and Boucher.
About Nicholas Negroponte
Nicholas Negroponte is co-founder and director of the MIT Media Laboratory, where he is also the Jerome B. Wiesner Professor of Media Technology. A graduate of MIT, Professor Negroponte is a pioneer in the field of computer-aided design, and has been a member of the MIT faculty since 1966. He is also author of the 1995 best-seller, Being Digital, which has been translated into more than 40 languages.
About Andrew Lippman
Andrew Lippman received both his B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from MIT. He is currently a Senior Research Scientist at MIT and co-directs a $5.5 Million research consortium at the Media Lab entitled "Digital Life" that addresses bits, people and community in a wired world. He holds nine patents in television, digital image processing and interface technologies.
About Walter Bender
Mr. Bender is executive director of the MIT Media Laboratory. He is a senior scientist, director of the Eletronic Publishing group anda member of of the laboratory's News in the Future consortium. Mr. Bender also directs the Gray Matters special interest group, which focuses on technology's impact on the aging population.
About the MIT Media Lab
The Media Laboratory opened its doors in the Wiesner Building, designed by I.M. Pei, in 1985. In its first decade, much of the Laboratory's activity centered around abstracting electronic content from its traditional physical representations, helping to create now-familiar areas such as digital video and multimedia. The success of this agenda is now leading to a growing focus on how electronic information overlaps with the everyday physical world. The Laboratory pioneered collaboration between academia and industry, and provides a unique environment to explore basic research and applications, without regard to traditional divisions among disciplines.
About the Internet Caucus Advisory Committee www.netcaucus.org
The Advisory Committee to the Internet Caucus is a diverse group of public interest, non-profit and industry groups working to educate the Congress and the public about important Internet-related policy issues. With participation from Members of the Caucus and logistical support from the Internet Education Foundation, the Advisory Committee hosts regular forums to discuss important Internet-related policy issues. Since its founding, the Advisory Committee has built a membership of over 190 organizations from a broad cross-section of the public interest community and the Internet industry. Additional information, including an updated membership list, is available at http://www.netcaucus.org.
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