[Air-L] Second Life- second thoughts

Tue Aug 28 11:22:30 PDT 2007

Hi Scott

Thanks- I will look at it

My interest is from a present/future perspective. In the MMORPG's, there are 
bots with which the players can interact- simple but bots, never-the-less. 
The military now has over 4000 bots in the field and some of these have the 
ability to make their own decisions. Virtual Humans (as discussed in Peter 
Plantec's eponymous volume) point out that it might not be long before the 
MUVE's have their own-not approaching the intelligence of a Kurzweil 
Singularity ideal, but on their way.

Thus, few if any who play in SL and the emerging MUVE will have encountered 
the "natives"

Also, these embodied selves are changing, especially since many of the 
opportunities for interactions cross borders as with the PDA driven 
educational programs.

Yet few who participate in these worlds, your course seemingly included, act 
as if these are culturally defined environments as opposed to just "meet-up" 
spaces which change the nature of the meet-up just by virtue of being in a 
different laboratory or discussion space. The social ecology seems  almost 
transparent or even absent.

thoughts?

tom

tom abeles

>From: "Scott MacLeod" <helianth at gmail.com>
>Reply-To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
>To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
>Subject: Re: [Air-L] Second Life- second thoughts
>Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2007 13:52:04 -0400
>
>Hi Tom,
>
>MIT's Michael Fischer's book "Emergent Forms of Life and The
>Anthropological Voice" offers the most interesting and edifying way
>I've seen for conceiving of how to look at the effects of new
>information technologies.
>
>Scott
>
>
>Fischer, Michael M. J. 2004. Emergent Forms of Life and The
>Anthropological Voice. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
>http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0822332388/sr=8-1/qid=1142266707/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-2945504-9813730?%5Fencoding=UTF8
>
>On 8/28/07, tom abeles <tabeles at hotmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi Scott
> >
> > How do you think about this arena sociologically when the half life for
> > change is so short across this area and SL is the first to emerge of a 
>type
> > of environment that is expected to be doubling in numbers yearly?
> >
> > Right now, environments like SL are seen much like the New World was 
>seen by
> > the first explorers who mapped their reality onto the new lands. Thus, 
>it
> > might seem more interesting to look at the immigrants and explorers.
> >
> > The rise of interactivity via the emerging technologies of PDA's and 
>dual
> > band cell phones which add dimensions to cross border knowledge 
>transitions
> > seems to point to much of the problems we are now seeing in the physical
> > universe and would seem to suggest that close study would be 
>instantaneously
> > historical in nature, past rather than present/future oriented
> >
> > thoughts?
> >
> > tom
> >
> > tom abeles
> >
> >
> > >From: "Scott MacLeod" <helianth at gmail.com>
> > >Reply-To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
> > >To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
> > >Subject: Re: [Air-L] Second Life
> > >Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2007 11:18:38 -0400
> > >
> > >I'm posting below two courses in Second Life on Berkman Island 
>(Harvard).
> > >
> > >The first starts on September 18. The second, which I'm teaching,
> > >begins tomorrow, August 29.
> > >
> > >Both offer ways to begin to think about SL sociologically.
> > >
> > >Scott
> > >
> > >
> > >Virtual Reality
> > >Becca Nesson
> > >Berkman Island, Fall 2007
> > >Tuesdays 8-10 ET, 5-7 SLT
> > >http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~nesson/e3/
> > >
> > >
> > >Society and Information Technology in SL (vis-à-vis Manuel Castells'
> > >research on the Network Society)
> > >Scott MacLeod - scott at scottmacleod.com
> > >Berkman Island, Fall 2007
> > >Wed – 7-9 ET, 4-6 SLT
> > >http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com
> > >http://scottmacleod.com/papers.htm
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >On 8/28/07, Alex -Vipowernet <alex at islands.vi> wrote:
> > > > Me too!
> > > >
> > > > Dr. Alex Randall
> > > > Prof Communications
> > > > Univ of the Virgin Islands.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >   Second Life Education Workshop 2007,
> > > >   http://www.simteach.com/slccedu07proceedings.pdf
> > > >
> > > >   On 8/28/07, CHUNG Wai Keung <wkchung at smu.edu.sg> wrote:
> > > >   >
> > > >   >
> > > >   > Wonder if anyone has come across any theoretical/sociological 
>study
> > >on
> > > >   > Second Life?  I would very much appreciate if someone can point 
>to
> > >me
> > > >   > the relevant literature.  Many thanks!
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>This email is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to
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