Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1999 - 43

honest with ourselves, we will see that most of the information we process from magazines, television and the internet comes from images
rather than words, which makes illiteracy less of a problem than we
think. But the article does not recommend abandoning reading, rather, it
recommends a way of surviving in a swiftly changing environment.
"When in the course of evolution it is time to bridge the technologies, or to make adaptations in an evolutionary sense, the adaptive strategy is always flexibility. The animals that can do both what has been and
what is coming are most likely to survive." 10
I am horrified by the idea of a post-literate society but agree that
bridging technologies is a reasonable response to change. I believe that
students should be computer literate but will become computer experts
in ways and in programs of their own choosing. At the same time, I will
continue to teach drawing and painting as the best means of training the
eye and hand.
Perhaps my greatest concern is that in an age "When Things Start to
Think," "When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence," the theatre will
not stand in opposition to the de-humanization that the computer can
represent. Will computers which exceed human intelligence have the capacity to feel love, friendship, jealousy or pity? Will images be able to
communicate complex concepts? Will the precision of words give way to
the relativism of emotions? Will computers that think have personalities?
The computer work I have seen so far, even my own, is so slick, so
perfect that it lacks personality. It has a machine made look. It is devoid
of the individuality that allows us to recognize that we are communicating
\vith another human. Teaching, for me, is nurturing individual talents. It
has less to do with technique than with ideas, with seeing and \\~th under-

standing. There are great designers who are not great draftsmen or
painters. But there are no great designers \vithout an "eye," who don't
understand human character, or are without a strong personal vision.
Teaching these intangibles has and will continue to be my priority and my
greatest challenge.*:.

Beeb Salzer teaches at San Diego State University, does freelance
design work, paints, and somehow finds time to regularly
contribute to TD&T.

Footnotes
I. AS. Byatt,&bel Tower (NewYooc Random House, 1996): 142.
2. Rubin and Watson, 71;eatrical Ligbting Pradice ( lelV York: Theatre Arts Books, 1954):
18-19.
3. Robin Pogrebin, "Keeping 'TItanic' Dynamic," New J1Jrk Times, October 2,1998, p. 5.
4. Ad for the Question ~Iark company, T.H.£. jO/lrnol (October): 6.
5. Dennis Baron in 71;e Cbronicle ofHigber Education (November 20, 1998): A56.
6. Donald ANorman, "The Im~sible Computer," M.I. T. Press, quoted in 71;e Cbronicle of
Higber Education (October 9,1998): B12.
7. Colin McGinn, "Hello Hal," Nelli York Times Book Review,january 3, 1999, p. 6.
8. Dulcie Leimbach, New J1Jrk Times, November 12,1998, p. D12.
9. Peter Schjeldalll, "Fairies Welcome," 71Je New Yorker (October 20, 1998): 93.
10. David Lance Goines, "Post-Industrial Post-Uteracy," Communication Arts Qanuary/
February (999): 16.

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