Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!killer!ames!pioneer!eugene From: eugene@pioneer.arpa (Eugene N. Miya) Newsgroups: comp.graphics Subject: Scientific visualization Message-ID: <10763@ames.arc.nasa.gov> Date: 23 Jun 88 21:59:54 GMT Sender: usenet@ames.arc.nasa.gov Reply-To: eugene@pioneer.UUCP (Eugene N. Miya) Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. Lines: 39 Sorry, I can't take it many more. I am getting tried of all the marketing hype of "scientific visualization." Especially by marketing people who have no idea what they are talking about. People just don't wantonly display scientific data. It's not Enterainment Tonight. Scientific data display isn't just adding pretty colors to data, nor is it image processing, nor simulation, these may have parts of each of these. But it has a different character from pure synthetic image generation. To reparaphase Hamming: The purpose of computing is insight, not alternative realities. I see some negative aspects of scientific fantasization bordering on masturbation. Some good work is being extended beyond the useful. What we have here, in some cases, are solutions looking for problems. The problem is there are too few good people to guide the directions data display should go. You don't just "look" at the data and get insight. Thank goodness Cooley and Tukey had more sense than this. Keep your marketing people at bay. It would be like having them say, "XXX is a well anti-aliased image" when in reality XXX isn't. It takes a graphicist to understand the issues of good image generation (highlights, shading, refraction, etc.) so it also takes good people to understand how scientists view and analyze data. I'm not trying to dull people's enthusiasm for using computer graphics in science. It's just that it's occasionally misdirected. My comments are made independent of my employer, my ACM/SIGGRAPH affiliation, and any other perceived association. They are mine. Another gross generalization from --eugene miya, NASA Ames Research Center, eugene@aurora.arc.nasa.gov resident cynic at the Rock of Ages Home for Retired Hackers: "Mailers?! HA!", "If my mail does not reach you, please accept my apology." {uunet,hplabs,ncar,decwrl,allegra,tektronix}!ames!aurora!eugene "Send mail, avoid follow-ups. If enough, I'll summarize." More detail (specifics) if wanted.