Steven Blumenfeld: The Tech of Art and the Art of Tech

Yes, Burning Man has a Chief Technology Officer, and his name is
Steven Blumenfeld. In this episode Stuart chats with “Bloom”
about art, innovation, immediacy, and the power of the
unexpected, with trippy side trips into AR, VR, and AI (and TLA).


Yes, we have a CTO. We have all the enterprise tech needs of any
not-small non-profit, with the added complications of
ridiculously challenging work sites, a staff that’s mostly
seasonal volunteers, and an ethos rooted in Ten Principles that
don’t always line up with ideals of Big Tech or engineering
efficiency. You don’t build a city of 80,000 in the desert — or a
global community of dreamers and doers — without bending a few
bits and bytes. Or stepping on a few tech-bro toes.


Bloom shares stories from his colorful career at the intersection
of art and technology, from working with Al Gore at Current Media
to pioneering the “always two years away” world of virtual
reality. And he does his best to reassure Stuart that AI will not
be taking his job… yet.


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