‘Pierre goes cross-eyed, trying to understand the implications of the slug’s cosmology’ -Charles Stross. In the discussion concerning science fiction, we saw how such stories can occasionally predict the future. However, like most forecasts they are rarely completely accurate. Jules Verne anticipated submarine warfare- but against wooden vessels rather than […]
SL Philosophy
Part 2 of this essay published here with the permission of Extropia DaSilva. — Gwyn “My God, it’s full of stars!” – Arthur C. Clarke. INTRODUCTION: THE PROBLEM WITH SCIENCE FICTION. Do these quotes remind you of anything? ‘There were seven girls waiting there, all floating just off the tatami. […]
Editor’s note: Once more, Extropia DaSilva has finished another of her mind-provoking essays, and it’s time to give her the floor! — Gwyn “Listen: there’s a hell of a good universe next door. Let’s go”-E.E Cummings. INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS ‘NORMAL’ ANYWAY? In online worlds the everyday concerns that define real […]
Second Life® residents all log in to Second Life for different reasons, and Soren Ferlinghetti is launching another survey to find out a bit more about the residents’ view of religion in Second Life. The intriguing aspects of Soren’s survey is how exactly Second Life, as an “alternative” environment — […]
Thanks to Jade Lily, there was an event on “Immersionism vs. Augmentism” on SL’s Orange Island, moderated by Tom Bukowski, our “resident anthropologist”. The discussion was lively — even if necessarily “short”, a lot remained to be said about the subject, as always 🙂 But several bloggers (many of which […]
It’s time to give voice to Extropia DaSilva again — and she’s back with an earlier topic, which she has expanded quite neatly on this latest essay of hers. Enjoy! — Gwyn IT’S THE ECONOMY, STUPID. The ability to replicate the means of production themselves from cheaply available elements is […]
This is the actual title of a white paper released by Proximity London, a well-known creative marketing agency in the UK. Last September, they have concluded a research on virtual worlds, and the purpose of their lead in-house researcher, John Urpeth, was to dispel the myths spread around by the […]
Extropia DaSilva is back with another one of her fantastic essays. Enjoy! — Gwyn In part one of this essay, we examined that most infamous of dystopian nanotech outcomes, the ‘grey goo’ of self-replicating machines. In this second part the view shall be widened as we examine how molecular manufacturing […]
The Mind Child is back with another essay 🙂 Enjoy — Gwyn Does the name Mitch Kapor sound familiar? If you are interested in the history of SL, the answer may well be yes, because he was one if LL’s earliest investors. “Mitch Kapor was the only person who got […]
PART ONE: SL AND THE GRAY GOO PROBLEM. When Second Life launched in May 2003, it attracted a citizenship not unlike the Internet’s Usenet group of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Toward the end of 2006, a software tool known as Copybot went on sale, and for a brief […]
AN ESSAY BY EXTROPIA DaSILVA. Extropia’s back with more delightful reading — Gwyn It is a fair bet that any company releasing a 3D social space to be inhabited by customisable avatars, who shop for virtual furniture with which to furnish their similarly virtual houses is going to find itself […]
Extropia DaSilva is back with another essay, and this time, she’ll be “going quantic” on Second Life. Explaining complex science using Second Life as an example, she’ll take you through a voyage through time and space, making you realise that “common sense” and “quantum mechanics” cannot be employed in the […]
Once more, I welcome Extropia DaSilva’s insight and her most excellent newest essay, that she so kindly allows me to reprint here. Enjoy her fascinating thoughts 🙂 – Gwyn It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that the pace of technological change is quickening. One of the surest signs of this […]