This digital revolutionary still believes in most of the lovely deep ideals that energized our work so many years ago. At the core was a sweet faith in human nature. If we empowered individuals, we believed, more good than harm would result. The way the internet has gone sour since then is truly perverse. The central faith of the web's early design has been superseded by a different faith in the centrality of imaginary entities epitomized by the idea that the internet as a whole is coming alive and turning into a superhuman creature. The designs guided by this new, perverse kind of faith put people back in the shadows. The fad for anonymity has undone the great opening-of-everyone's-windows of the 1990s. While that reversal has empowered sadists to a degree, the worst effect is a degradation of ordinary people.

Internet2 visiting scholar (1997–2001)
From 1997 to 2001 Lanier was the Chief Scientist of Advanced Network and Services which contained the Engineering Office of Internet2 and served as the Lead Scientist of the National Tele-immersion Initiative a coalition of research universities studying advanced applications for Internet2. Memberships
Lanier has served on numerous advisory boards including the Board of Councilors of the University of Southern California Medical Media Systems (a medical visualization spin-off company associated with Dartmouth College) Microdisplay Corporation and NY3D (developers of auto stereo displays). July 28–30 1992.

A pioneer in the field of VR Lanier and Thomas G. the first company to sell VR goggles and gloves. Lanier is also known as a composer of classical music and a collector of rare instruments; his acoustic album Instruments of Change (1994) features Asian wind and string instruments such as the khene mouth organ the suling flute and the sitar-like esraj.