Photo: vanz / CC BY 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
What I admire most about Jaron Lanier is not that he fathered virtual reality, but that the man who sold the first VR goggles became the sharpest critic of where the technology led us. Writing You Are Not a Gadget and Who Owns the Future, he turned around to defend human dignity inside the digital economy. There is something rare about an inventor cool enough to diagnose his own creation's side effects. Add the dreadlocks, the composing, the essays, and his German Peace Prize, and you get a thinker I trust precisely because he is willing to doubt the future he helped build.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Jaron Lanier
- Name (Japanese)
- ジャロン・ラニアー
- Reading
- じゃろん・らにあー
- Born
- May 3, 1960 (age 66)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Taurus / Rat
- Origin
- New York City, New York, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- computer scientist / composer / programmer / writer / essayist
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- New Mexico State University
Awards & achievements
- 2014 Peace Prize of the German Publishers' and Booksellers' Association
- 2010 Time 100
- 2014 Goldsmith Book Prize
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | Who Owns the Future? | — | |
| Notable work | You Are Not a Gadget | — |
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Jaron Lanier born?
Born May 3, 1960 (age 66).
Where is Jaron Lanier from?
Jaron Lanier is from New York City, New York, United States.
What does Jaron Lanier do?
Jaron Lanier works as computer scientist, composer, programmer, writer, essayist.
What is Jaron Lanier known for?
Notable works include Who Owns the Future?, You Are Not a Gadget.
Computer scientist — see all → · Composer — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-21
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.