Historian W. Patrick McCray's new book explores the collaboration of art and technology in the 1960s A detail of "Cosmos," which is stored at the Oxford Brookes Library. Photo: The Malina Family. By Jim Logan SANTA BARBARA, CA .- When we see aliens riding flying lizards in the movie Avatar, were watching the marriage of art and technology. Such digital wizardry is so common these days we take it for granted. W. Patrick McCray would like to remind you that just a few decades earlier, artists and engineers began to step outside their separate spheres to collaborate in ways that would set the stage for the creative alchemy that now touches most every facet of our lives.