The Washington Post Magazine - USA (2022-03-27)

2 MARCH27, 2022

Opening Lines

His cameo as a retina double in ‘Star

Tr ek II’ helped push technology forward

BY JASON VEST

probably some insipid training film — at least we

weren’t in a classroom. Seconds later cheering

broke out. The school system had decided to thank

us for our before and after-school efforts with a

sneak preview of “Star Trek II: The Wrath of

Khan.”

As the film celebrates its 40th anniversary this

year, “Star Trek II” is generally regarded by fans

and critics as one of the better science fiction

adventures ever made. The earlier “Star Trek: The

Motion Picture” had drawn plaudits for special

effects but universal disappointment about

everything else, and it wasn’t going to be enough in

the sequel just to buff up story, characters and

performances. It would have to top the earlier

movie’s dazzling effects, too.

One of the trippiest effects was seeing Admiral

Kirk submit to a Starfleet tech-security measure:

“I-den-tify for ret-in-a scan,” in which Kirk’s eyeball

is used to secure access to a classified briefing.

Fast-forward about 30 years. When your trades

are newspapering and gumshoeing, you tend to

meet interesting people from all walks of life.

Sleuthing in the Bay Area one night, I found myself

at a dinner of tech business types.

Among them was Rob Poor, a Manhattan Beach-

based technologist and entrepreneur whose

passions for those endeavors finds expression in all

things electronics and music. (Doing research for

the information architecture end of MIT’s Media

Lab and hanging out with Brian Eno have been

routine days at the office for him.) But Poor can

He’s Had His Eye

on the Future

O

ne day in 1 982 , when I was about 10,

all the safety patrols of Cardinal

Forest Elementary School in

Springfield, Va., were told to report to

the cafeteria. We were herded onto a

bus with no explanation other than that we didn’t

need to worry about school for the rest of the day.

It wasn’t long before we found ourselves in a

massive movie theater with what appeared to be

every other red-belted, tin-badge-wearing primary

school safety patrol in Fairfax County. Clearly the

school system wanted all of us in this setting for a

good reason. There was no introduction — just

mystery.

As soon as everyone was seated, the lights

dimmed, to muttering that whatever was coming —