TV’s “Lost” Creator Visits MIT Media Lab
It’s the long-standing right brain/left brain debate: Are some people simply born more creative? Or, can anyone learn from the masters? A closer look into the thought process of well-known creative thinkers is a worthwhile endeavor for anyone looking for a better way to do something.
Emmy award-winning film and television writer-producer J.J. Abrams, creator of the TV series “Lost” and “Revolution” and director of a “Star Trek” sequel to be released next year, recently gave a talk at the MIT Media Lab on the creative process as he sees it. Part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Media Lab focuses on research projects at the convergence of technology, multimedia, and design.
During his talk, Abrams riffs about a wide range of topics—from his production company Bad Robot, where the waiting room table is covered with markers and paper instead of magazines and they make a book at the end of the year with waiting room art, to how they came to expand the character of Ben Linus in “Lost,” who was originally supposed to be only in a single episode. “I’m also open to a better idea,” said Abrams.
The MIT Media Lab’s unorthodox research approach combines lab designers, engineers, artists, and scientists working atelier-style. What are some of the offshoots of the program? The One Laptop per Child project was one of the notable research efforts.
Others from the top 25 products or platforms spun out of Media Lab research include the electronic ink technology used in the Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader, and Barnes & Noble Nook; Guitar Hero, developed by spin-off Harmonix Music Systems; LEGO Mindstorms; and BiOM, the first bionic lower-leg system for amputees, commercialized by spin-off iWalk.
Abrams’ visit was part of the Media Lab Conversations Series with visionaries who work at the intersection of technology, art, and enterprise. Check out the video below.
