Second Life

There were moments throughout Josh Levy's machinima documentary on Second Life that intrigued me, while there were other moments that I felt were absolutely absurd. The thought of Second Life and social and political activism never really crossed my mind before, and the documentary showcased some fantastic and wondrous ideas about how and where Second Life can go in the future. It blew my mind away to learn that our professor attended a conference in Second Life that she was unable to attend in real life. Situations like that are how I feel Second Life can be beneficial. It is definitely foreseeable that when if you are too ill to attend class (or when Swine Flu has prevented everyone from leaving their houses) we can instead attend in Second Life. The obvious downside to that though is just the sheer disconnect from reality, similar to all of the online dating sites. Second Life and virtual reality can never replace that special human intimacy and interaction that we have with one another. I love that people are doing really cool things in Second Life, such as the Peace and Justice Center which I found fascinating. But I just wonder about all that time and energy placed into setting it up and putting it all together. Wouldn't that time have been better spent building such a center in real life? I know that Second Life is a virtual reality world where you can be a 10 foot beautiful winged-angel with 4 arms and a sword and such places like The Peace and Justice Center are possible, but why can't it be possible in REAL LIFE. I think that the center is a great idea and obviously funding and building such a center in real life would come with a lot of setbacks, it is at least a great start. Now although I found this aspect of Second Life intriguing, I was not amused by the VIRTUAL MARCH ON CAPITAL HILL. What good can come from having your avatar dancing and marching and holding up signs in VIRTUAL REALITY?? Unless your in Iceland and can't physically attend said march, you have no excuse. It's just another sign of disconnect from reality. Unless your discussing issues with other avatars and trying to help bring these issues into focus in REAL LIFE, this virtual march seemed pointless to me. Spending hours on your computer is not going to bring focus to an issue. You're better off helping others out in REAL LIFE. As another blogger on this site said, you have to go and seek out these places in Second Life. Now I am getting a tad bit too cynical in my view on Second Life just because it doesn't really do anything for me. That being said, it actually has the potential for opening up the eyes to a lot of people. The goal is to get people to transition from virtual life to real life in their social and political activism. I can't speak for everyone in how Second Life affects them. Maybe going to this virtual march is a stepping stone for actually doing it in real life, but being the cynic that I am, I am still cautious and skeptical of the positive outcomes of Second Life. Especially with how many people actually use Second Life for virtual protests and building peace centers. I'm excited for the potential of this new technology, but I'm also scared shitless because as I've been saying for years, people are just going to plug themselves into computers one day, similar to The Matrix, and I feel like this new movie coming out in September explains it perfectly. http://www.apple.com/trailers/touchstone/surrogates/