I love David Byrne. The guy is a total geek. He makes great music. He rides bikes. What’s not to like? Well, his prognostication abilities, for one.
Over at Paleofuture Matt Novak dug up a 1987 interview with David Byrne from Omni magazine. It was part of a package where the magazine had 14 “great minds” predict what life would be like in 20 years. Byrne’s take?
I don’t think computers will have any important effect on the arts in 2007. When it comes to the arts they’re just big or small adding machines. And if they can’t “think,” that’s all they’ll ever be. They may help creative people with their bookkeeping, but they won’t help in the creative process.
Keep in mind this is three years after the first Macintosh shipped, which revolutionised desktop publishing. More in Byrne’s wheelhouse, it was also three years after Sound Designer was released (which would later become Pro Tools). Dire Straits had released their Money For Nothing video two years previously, which showed the promise of computer animation to a mainstream music audience. In short, things were happening!
Today Byrne is one of the more tech-savvy artists out there. He even (gasp) uses PowerPoint to make art. Irony!
The entire thing is worth reading. Go check it out. You can play this while you read.