Who will make Charlie Sheen go away?

Today on Forbes.com, Todd Wilms orchestrates a virtual meeting of the minds, interviewing three experts on the future of social and mass media, R. "Ray" Wang, CEO of Constellation Research Group; Dr. Andreas Weigend, Professor of e-commerce and former Amazon.com executive; and our own Dr. Rick Wilber, media professor, sf author, and editor of Future Media.

Addressing the topic of "Where are we going?", Rick comments:

"We are about 'the now' and digesting data right in front of us. So, what if a celebrity or athlete or leader could transmit their reality to you - you could, in effect, be in the head of that person. MIT currently has a retinal prosthetic device they are testing that will allow stimulus to enter directly into the brain, bypassing your eyes. Now, imag[ine] that you could be in the head of anyone who would transmit that data out. Imagine not just watching Lady Gaga perform in pay-per-view simulcast at home, but being in Lady Gaga's head while she performs – in essence, being Gaga. For that matter, how much would some kid pay to be in Eli Manning's brain for passing tips, or to experience a great legal argument in front of the Supreme Court?"

"We thought the internet was going to be THE disruptive event for us – and to some degree it has. But TV and the internet are melding together in many ways. This would be the first time since the 1950's that something really came in and change the game for us. Who would watch TV when you could experience another person whenever you wanted? It would be a total revolution and it is not too far away. These are the things I have been thinking about."

Wilms muses, "Now, who is going to step up and solve how to make Charlie Sheen go away?" We at Tachyon wish we knew.