Jaron Lanier is a computer scientist, composer, visual artist, and author. Lanier is credited with coining and popularizing the term 'Virtual Reality.' In the early 1980s, Lanier founded VPL Research, the first company to sell VR products.

Time Magazine named Lanier one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2010.  His book You Are Not a Gadget was released in 2010 and was named one of the 10 best books of the year by the New York Times. His latest book, Who Owns the Future?, argues that the Internet is destroying middle class, and then tells us how to fix it.