CyberSynchronicity

Anthropocybersynchronicity:

Rhythm and Intimacy in VR

by Joel N. Orr, Autodesk Distinguished Fellow 1-800-CADD/CAM.

based on an article that first appeared in "Computer Graphics
World".

an*thro*po*cy*ber*syn*chro*ni+*ci*ty n [fr Gk anthropos, man +cyber,
governor + synchronicity, coming together in time] The study of
the rhythmic aspects of the person-computer interface.

I coined the term anthropocybersynchronicity to describe an area
of person/machine interface research that is largely unexplored-
- but holds great promise, especially for virtual reality. Untapped aspects
of our being can greatly enhance the contact between people and
computers. The secret: Rhythm. Human-scale rhythms--visual, auditory,
and kinesthetic--can and should be incorporated into the design
of effective computer systems.

When MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte was asked a few
years ago, "What comes after personal computing?" he responded
with a single word: "Intimacy." While the conventional uses of
this term have a wide variety of connotations, one cognitive psychology
usage is most interesting: "the portion of the field of view occupied
by a phenomenon." Since in most current VR applications the virtual
world takes up the entirety of the user's field of view, intimacy
is total: The user feels entirely "inside" the VR "world."

The totality of the user's immersion in the VR "world" represents both
a danger and an opportunity. Anthropocybersynchronicity can lessen
the danger and help us exploit the opportunity.

Two to Tango

One of the most widely-quoted statistics in CADD comes from a
study done over a decade ago by IBM, in which the researchers
demonstrated that the number of transactions performed by users
of a CADD system (CADAM, in this case) increased as the response
time decreased, down to a quarter of a second. This finding was
surprising; most CADD users and experts believed that response
time was important, but that below about one second, other factors
would limit the productivity of the user. The study, published
in the "IBM Research Journal", showed that the transaction rate
at half a second was double that at one second--and that the transaction
rate at a quarter of a second was about double that at half a second.

For years, I believed IBM misapplied this statistic to justify
selling much more powerful computer systems for CADD than the user
really needed. I pointed out that CADAM commands typically had very
limited span; that is, it took four or five picks on CADAM to
accomplish what could be done with just one pick on a Computervision
system. So response time, I reasoned, was important--but only in
the IBM/CADAM environment, where individual commands did not accomplish
as much as they did on other systems.

But in 1984, when I visited a CADAM user group meeting and a Computervision
user group meeting within a short period, and an observation I
had made earlier was confirmed: CADAM users were happy, and CV
users were frustrated, with their respective systems. Exploring
the matter further with my clients who had CADAM and CV, I was
surprised to learn that CADAM users ended their workday tired
but happy--with sweaty armpits, so to speak--while CV users often
ended their workday with a headache.

It became apparent to me that the "dance" of the CADD operator
was much smoother for the CADAM user, with sub-second response
times to all commands, than for the CV user, whose system response
time varied widely from command to command-- and from moment to
moment, for it depended on what the other system users were doing
at the time.

Fascinatin' Rhythm

Then I wondered that I had not seen it before: CADAM users were
able to develop a working rhythm, much like farm or factory workers.
When I was thirteen, my Uncle Bobby taught me to use a scythe.
"Once you capture the rhythm of it, it won't even seem like work;
you'll find it exhilarating," he told me. I was skeptical, and remained
so for several muscle-sore and blistery days, but I kept practicing.
And one day, I started cutting clover at about nine in the morning,
and only stopped when my worried aunt came to find me at three o'clock
in the afternoon--I hadn't shown up for lunch.

This dynamic aspect of ergonomics is sadly neglected by computer users
and vendors. It desperately needs more serious study.

Hidden Power

Computers are, potentially, a very powerful amplifier of human
thinking. Their use has been limited to date by their accessibility; only
a relatively small segment of the population can make contact
with their power.

This is largely due to their arcane nature. A great deal of knowledge
is required to use most systems with any facility. And most operating
systems and applications demand near-perfection from those who
would exercise them, operating under the principle of "a miss is
as good as a mile"; if you mis-key a command or a file name, the
resultant behavior may be astonishingly different from what you
expected, and the computer may give you little indication of what
you did wrong. So at a minimum, you have to be precise with letters
and numbers to make computers work; only a fraction of the population
has the aptitude needed to be so.

Adding pictures to the human/computer communication goes a long
way toward enlarging the segment of the population that can take
advantage of the brain-amplifying power of computers. Icons and
spatially distributed menus make interaction with the computer
less ambiguous for more people. Pictures unleash more of the awesome
intellectual leverage of the machine. But we do not have to stop
there.

Your Meter is Running

In "The Neural Lyre: Poetic Meter, the Brain, and Time", Frederick
Turner and Ernst Poppel note that "...brain processing is essentially
rhythmic. That these rhythms can be "driven" or reinforced by repeated
photic or auditory stimuli, to produce peculiar subjective states,
is already well known." They go on to show that this rhythmic
nature is the same across cultural boundaries: "Metered poetry
is a highly complex activity which is culturally universal. (Frederick
Turner) has heard poetry recited by Ndembu spirit- doctors in Zambia
and has, with the anthropologist Wulf Schiefenhovel, translated
Eipo poetry from Central New Guinea. He reports, as a poet, that
the meter of Eipo poetry, when reproduced in English, has much
the same emotional effect as it does in the original."

Through their study of poetry in hundreds of languages, Turner
and Poppel have identified a fundamental temporal unit that seems
to be shared by all humans. "It has been known for many years
that rhythmic photic and auditory stimulation can evoke epileptic
symptoms in seizure-prone individuals, and can produce powerful involuntary
reactions even in normal persons. The rhythmic stimulus entrains
and then amplifies natural brain rhythms, especially if it is
tuned to an important frequency such as the ten cycle-per-second
alpha wave."

They have determined the length of this unit to be three seconds;
in poetry, this period is identified with a vocal space unit discernible in
all the languages they studied, which they call LINE . Rhythmic
driving at frequencies that are harmonically related to this temporal unit
produces astounding effects. "The curious subjective effects of
metered verse--relaxation, a holistic sense of the world and so
on--are no doubt attributable to a very mild pseudotrance state
induced by the auditory driving effect of this repetition."

Moreover, such stimuli seem to have an integrative effect on people.
"Auditory driving is known to affect the right brain much more
powerfully than the left: thus, where ordinary unmetered prose
comes to us in a "mono" mode, so to speak, affecting the left
brain predominantly, metered language comes to us in a "stereo"
mode, simultaneously calling on the verbal resources of the left
and the rhythmic potentials of the right."

"But the driving rhythm of the three-second LINE is not just any
rhythm. It is, as we have seen, tuned to the largest limited unit
of auditory time, its specious present, within which causal sequences
can be compared, and free decisions taken. A complete poem-- which
can be any length--is a duration, a realm of values, systematically
divided into presents, which are the realm of action. It therefore
summarizes our most sophisticated and most uniquely human integrations
of time."

Good Vibrations

Both mechanical and electrical engineers say a system is in resonance
when it vibrates at its natural frequency. Energy from a resonating
system moves easily to another system of the same natural frequency.
We tune radio and tv receivers to the frequencies of transmitting
stations in order to receive their signals; when the soprano sings
at the natural frequency of the crystal goblet, it shatters.

Human beings are complex systems--too complex to have simple natural
frequencies. But there are certain frequencies that resonate with
some human phenomena. Low-frequency sound pulses at or near a person's
heart rate seem to cause the human system to "lock in" to the
sound generator; once this occurs, changes in the frequency or
rate of the sound cause corresponding changes in the person's heart
rate, as well as in other physical functions. The most popular
video games are not the ones with the best graphics; they are
the ones that have a heartbeat-rate low-frequency pulse, that
accelerates as the game progresses. This auditory entrainment causes
the player's heart rate to speed up, and an accompanying production
of adrenaline and endorphins. By the end of the game, the player
is "hyped"--and wants more.

The companies that sell background music to large commercial establishments
use rhythms (and often other subliminal stimuli) to create the
kind of mood they judge to be most effective--for workers in an
office, customers in a grocery store, and so on.

Filmmakers take advantage of this phenomenon to heighten tension
in their audiences. Next time you watch a suspense film, note the
heartbeat-rate pulse, that speeds up, at crucial times--like when
the movie calls for extra suspense.

You Lead

But when a person watches a film, the movie is active and the
person is passive. By contrast, good sales people have long known what
practitioners of neurolinguistic programming have recently written
about: You can establish rapport with someone by intentionally
mirroring different aspects of their behavior--their rate of breathing,
their blinking rate, the rate at which their leg is swinging,
for example. And after a couple of minutes of matching, you can
verify that you have rapport by leading--changing the rhythm,
and watching to see if they follow. If they do, you are communicating
with the person on a very primal level, and they are much more
open to your suggestions and other forms of leading than when
such rapport is absent.

Studies of people in singles' bars back this up. People who began to
mirror each other's behavior soon left together; people who were
"out of synch" with each other after a few minutes separated and
made other contacts.

Getting at the Problem

Now let us think about the computer as a general-purpose tool,
something we use to get a job done. We must measure its effectiveness
by how easily and how well it helps us to accomplish our goal,
which is usually not operating the computer; it is writing, accounting,
designing, drafting, or something to which the computer--except
for the specifics of its assistance--is irrelevant.

We can increase our control of the tool by increasing our coupling
to it--the extent to which our actions and the actions of the
computer system affect each other. Rhythm, through resonance, enables
us to increase that coupling.

Of course, increasing coupling could give the tool more control
over the user, which could be undesirable; like the binding of
a ski, it has to be both loose and tight. You don't want the ski
to fall off while you are going down a slope; but you want it to
come off easily if you fall.

Ultimately, it is not literacy, or pictoracy, we need; it is not
even "mediacy," a facility with multimedia. Rather, we must have immediacy-
-enhanced access to our problems so that we are empowered to solve
them without mediation, without the intrusion of the irrelevancies
of the computer. Rhythm can bring us closer to this goal.

They Got Rhythm

Although they are only nominally anthroposynchronous, there are
already numerous rhythmic uses of computers. The ones given below
demonstrate the feasibility of having the computer control rhythm.

Biomuse II is a music- generating system invented by Hugh S. Lusted
and R. Benjamin Knapp, of Stanford University. Small electrodes
pick up electric signals from the muscles of the "player," and
translate them into MIDI (musical instrument digital interface)
signals. Electrodes can be placed, for example, on the skull,
near the eyes, and on arms and legs. The player can make music
by moving, by changing brain-wave patterns (through visualization
or other means), or by looking in different directions.

Music therapist Shmuel Ben-Dov uses a program called "Xanadu" to
teach autistic children. The system can detect both pitch and rhythm
via a microphone connected to a board that comes with the software.
Ben-Dov designs lessons that can be executed by Xanadu; in them,
the student is instructed to sing a particular series of notes,
at the given rhythm. When the student does well, the system rewards
him or her with a pleasant arpeggio; mistakes cause the program
to provide additional instruction and encouragement.

In the Boston Computer Museum, a computer plays along with a musician,
improvising an accompaniment in real time.

A simpler version is available in Broderbund's "Jam Session" for
the Macintosh. The program has a mode in which the user can "jam"
with the music by selecting particular licks; the software makes
sure that the user's contribution fits in with the rhythm of the
piece.

Richard Bandler, co-inventor of NLP (neurolinguistic programming)
, has described programs for the Apple II that induce a light hypnotic
trance by rhythmic flashing and clicking. Once the system has "rapport"
with the user, it makes suggestions to enhance the user's learning
state.

I'll Lead, You Follow

Suppose the keyboard of your personal computer had a sensor that could
detect your pulse. When you first start working with the computer,
the system would inquire as to your mood and alertness, from time
to time. It would build a table with the corresponding heart rates.
After a period of calibration, it could then sense your level
of alertness, and use rhythmic auditory and visual pulsation to alter
it. It could, for example, flash a character in the corner of
the display at the rate of your pulse, while making an unobtrusive
but audible clicking sound. When it detected synchronization between your
pulse rate and its beat, it could speed up the flashing and clicking,
checking to see that your pulse was entrained.

By increasing your heart rate, the system would cause your body
to generate the substances that are the concomitants of the "fight
or flight" response--including endorphins and enkephalins, pain-
blunting, pleasure-enhancing morphine-like chemicals that could
make you more effective.

They could also make you less effective, if your work required
a more contemplative mood. For this reason, you'd be able to control
what the system did to you.

Off-Beat

"What do you call people who practice the rhythm method of birth
control?" goes the riddle. "Parents," is the answer. Like any
other tool or approach, rhythm does not ensure success.

Rhythm can be a powerful ally or a formidable foe, a liberator
or an enslaver. I do not believe it is intrinsically evil, but
it can be used for evil purposes, such as controlling people against
their will. We should approach it cautiously and intelligently,
respecting its destructive power while we harness it for our
benefit.

Coming Soon

We have looked at rhythm with the mathematics of Euclid and Newton,
whose underlying assumptions derive from Plato's: everything
in the world is an approximation of an ideal. Recent discoveries
under the general heading of "the mathematics of chaos" reveal
that things are both simpler and more complex than we ever imagined.
Sealed mysteries of natural phenomena, and biological phenomena
in particular, are yielding in embarrassing profusion to this
new Open sesame. I am anxiously waiting to see if there will be
found, in a biological setting, a chaotic or fractal analog to
the Newtonian notion of resonance.

Marching Forward

Historically, rhythm has sometimes been used to abrogate individual
freedoms. "Military drums play music designed to make your feet
take you where your head never would," says N'omi Orr. "Musick
is almost as dangerous as Gunpowder; and it may be requires looking
after no less than the Press or the Mint. 'Tis possible a publick
Regulation might not be amiss," said Jeremy Collier (1650-1726)
.

There is danger in rhythm, long perceived. Let us exercise good judgment
in its application. We have to be sensitive to the possibilities
for its misuse. Here, the best remedy is education; we must teach
our children about rhythm in the context of communications, and
make them sensitive to its use and misuse.

But we must act quickly; we are late. In 1947, mystery writer
and medievalist Dorothy Sayers pointed out, in "The Lost Tools
of Learning": "We who were scandalized in 1940 when men were sent to
fight armored tanks with rifles, are not scandalized when young
men and women are sent into the world to fight massed propaganda
with a smattering of "subjects"; and when whole classes and whole
nations become hypnotized by the arts of the spell binder, we
have the impudence to be astonished. We dole out lip-service to
the importance of education..."

We have to see education as an ongoing activity; we must teach,
and learn, how to think, not just what. And part of that set
of skills is in the examination of what we take in. In his science-
fiction novel, David's Sling, Mark Stiegler gives good advice:

"Filter first for substance. Filter second for significance.
These filters protect against advertising. Filter third for reliability.
This filter protects against politicians. Filter fourth for completeness.
This filter protects from the media."

"History is a race between education and catastrophe," noted H.
G. Wells. May education win in our generation.

DR. JOEL N. ORR
Chairman and Principal Consultant
ORR ASSOCIATES, INC.
5224 Indian River Road * Suite 106
Virginia Beach, Virginia 23464
804/467-2677; Fax 804/495-8548

Dr. Joel N. Orr is a CADD/CAM and computer graphics consultant.
He is chairman of Orr Associates, Inc. (OAI), one of the most
active consulting firms of its type in the world. OAI counts among
its satisfied clients such organizations as IBM, AMP, Kodak, Unisys,
the US Air Force and Navy, Hasbro, Xerox, Motorola, Citicorp Venture,
and many others. OAI provides both technical and marketing counsel
to users and vendors of CADD/CAM and computer graphics equipment
and services, as well as to investors.

Dr. Orr is a contributing editor for COMPUTER GRAPHICS WORLD,
TEMPLATE, CAE, DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT, andWINDOWS SOURCES. He is a
founding member and past president of the National Computer Graphics
Association. A popular speaker, he frequently addresses the Society
for Manufacturing Engineers, the American Production and Inventory Control
Society, and many other professional groups. He has written and
edited several books on CADD and CIM, and is listed in "Who's Who.
"

LEAP, the League for Engineering Automation Productivity, was
established by Dr. Orr. Its goal is to empower engineering professionals
by working with academic and industrial leaders to make computers
the locus, rather than the focus, of day-to-day engineering activity.

The CADD/CAM Institute, a seminar and publishing firm, was founded
and is directed by Dr. Orr. It publishes Joel Orr's "WORLD OF TECHNOLOGY",
a 30-minute monthly video newsletter.

COMPUTER TALK, a weekly radio talk show hosted by Dr. Orr, can
be heard on Standard Broadcasting Network affiliates Sundays, 2-
3 pm EST.

Dr. Orr holds a PhD in mathematics and computer science. He was
named a Distinguished Fellow by Autodesk Corporation.