The world is doomed. An animated record of it can be seen on 'Global Warming' .

As if that wasn't bad enough it also seems Computing is seriously ill, and might also go the same way http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.9662 Which implies Computer animation is on the way out.

I don't really believe it, at least as far as Computing is concerned. The subject has simply moved down-market, with examples at http://zwinky.smileycentral.com/download/index.jhtml?partner=ZJxdm035&spu=true&siteid=1242 which enables those without any knowledge of computers to create simple animated characters. Why should any seriously minded programmer want to work in that world?

Ironically animation caused global warming (known as the Hayward theory, though yet to be universally recognised, but remember they also laughed at Columbus).

My first job in animation was to write TV adverts selling beer, ice cream, and toffees; it was my contribution to the obesity epidemic now facing the west. As a copywriter I moved on to selling cars, petrol, and various other things that help pollute the atmosphere.

Like many in the Animation industry, I survived to write my own stuff by the support of the Advertising industry that kept animation going after the Film Industry rejected it.

Advertising has always been to the forefront of image technology, and those of us who buy things we want (as against things we need) do so because we see it advertised.

The solution to Global Warming is simple: cut out advertising. I realise that to do so would mean the collapse of the economy, and life as we (in the western world) know it. But it is not all bad news. We might soon start living in a virtual world where our conspicuous consumption might be of virtual goods, and thereby non-polluting. The article below suggests how.

The Web of TomorrowBy Jason OConnor (c) 2007Oak Web Works, LLC A woman switches on a tiny wireless chip that has been surgically implanted behind her ear, which then synchs up with the Web wherever she is in the world. The simple thought of logging on to the Internet triggers the system to turn on and connect to the Web. She could be on a bus or at the beach and from all outward appearances she's just staring off into space. But she sees a three dimensional artificial world before her that she can manipulate any way she chooses by mere thought alone.
By looking at the trends of today we can begin to develop a image of what the Web of the future will look like. I believe the Web will improve and grow in a way that will dwarf its present existence and will improve and enrich everyone's lives way beyond what we can imagine today. The Net will become as integrated into everyone's everyday lives as much as, and even more so, than the television or telephone (in developed nations first, then everywhere). Television, communications and the Internet will merge.

So, where there's life there's hope, and by implication, where there's Virtual life, there is Virtual Hope. (I am not quite sure what that is, but will be part of my next theory, and when I've worked it out you will be the first to know).

Stan