Video of Philip Rosedale talking about the virtual society he founded, Second Life

Video shared by njacknis over 3 years ago.
Last comment over 2 years ago, 2 Comments.

Watch video at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/the_inspiration_of_second_life.html

Take a look at a presentation by Philip Rosedale about the virtual society he founded, Second Life.  Whether Second Life or something like it, but better, is in our futures, it is currently an interesting experiment in building a society.  And Rosedale seems to understand that and has some fascinating observations about the phenomenon.
 
You can find it at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/the_inspiration_of_second_life.html
 
Norm

Comments

113_1356_medium Paul Johnston

I am afraid I was not that impressed. He was clearly trying to push his product (which I suppose is only natural) but he came over to me as rather self-satisfied and not having anything that original to say. I liked his point about socially exploring knowledge but I am not sure virtual worlds are really the best tool to do that. He mentioned the oddity that 5000 people can be looking at the same thing on Amazon and not able to chat to each other and I do think people will aim to build tools that get around that, but I am not convinced that these tools will necessarily be virtual world like.

posted over 3 years ago

Headshot_medium njacknis

Paul,
 
I share your skepticism about Second Life, which is why I wrote that it or something better might arise.  No doubt, Rosedale is a good salesman for his company.
 
But the value of this talk, I guess, depends upon one's context.  For me, two factors led me to find it interesting.
 
First, I have been impressed by the widespread American interest in Second Life.  Beyond mere interest, there have been real uses by governments (MuniGov), libraries (American Library Association) and many educational institutions.  So I'm curious as to what they see in it.
 
Most recently, I saw yet another presentation on the use of Second at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj5G4XsCT34
 
Second, it is rare to observe a society come about "de novo".  I know that Second Life is not a perfect example of a society started without preconceptions, but it is closer than the normal phenomenon we observe.  It's fluid nature and the use of avatars also enables its participants to play roles that they would not normally take on, given their pre-existing cultural inclinations.  So, it is of interest to me to see how this society is developing. 
 
Norm

posted over 3 years ago