[extropy-chat] A Libertarian experiment?

Wed Dec 24 21:26:21 UTC 2003

I don't think it even begins to scrape the surface of reality. The majority
of these fols are "gamers" which means many are probably kids. Also, since
it is not "real" many of the people probably go to great lengths to make the
dull humdrum of everyday life exciting. Nothing can really be lost, no real
money is made, and noone can actually be hurt. It's a sim, and as a sim, it
lacks that one important thing...reality.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Lorrey" <mlorrey at yahoo.com>
To: "ExI chat list" <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2003 10:00 AM
Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] A Libertarian experiment?

> Where are the insurance companies? I'll bet that the owning company
> does not permit this, either.
>
> --- "R.Coyote" <etheric at comcast.net> wrote:
> > This is not Libertarianism, Libertarianism requires laws not
> > lawlesness
> >
> > try again
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Dirk Bruere" <dirk at neopax.com>
> > To: <wta-talk at transhumanism.org>; "ExI chat list"
> > <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
> > Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2003 5:27 AM
> > Subject: [extropy-chat] A Libertarian experiment?
> >
> >
> > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3334923.stm
> > > The dark side of digital utopia
> > > Dot.life - Where tech meets life, every Monday
> > > By Mark Ward
> > > BBC News Online technology correspondent
> > >
> > > How would people act if they were freed from real life laws and
> > social
> > > constraints? A new, interactive computer game offers just such a
> > scenario -
> > > with some disturbing results.
> > > Imagine you could move to a city where you could swap yourself for
> > a
> > > younger, slimmer version that never ages and never gets tired.
> > >
> > > In this city you could choose which job to pursue, build your dream
> > home
> > and
> > > do all the things you did not have the courage to do in your other
> > life.
> > >
> > > It sounds great but soon after you arrive, the gloss begins to
> > fade.
> > >
> > > One of the first people you meet is a kindly looking granny who
> > greets you
> > > with a slap round the face and a barrage of abuse.
> > >
> > > Escaping to one of the "safe" homes you find a den of thieves who
> > trick
> > you
> > > into handing over all your cash.
> > >
> > > The local newspapers are full of investigations into child
> > prostitution,
> > > rampant crime, mafia-controlled neighbourhoods, shadowy
> > self-declared
> > > governments struggling to maintain order and runaway inflation.
> > >
> > > Welcome to Alphaville.
> > >
> > > Dark history
> > >
> > > Alphaville is the biggest city in The Sims Online, a spin-off of
> > the
> > highly
> > > successful Sims computer game. As its name implies, players can
> > control
> > > virtual people in an online world.
> > >
> > > The Sims Online can be likened to a chatroom with moving pictures
> > in which
> > > people are represented by an avatar rather than text.
> > >
> > > But to the chatting it adds a rich virtual world in which every
> > player has
> > a
> > > home. There are places to socialise, to work and visit, shops and
> > services,
> > > even virtual pets.
> > >
> > > Alphaville and its sister cities in The Sims Online were supposed
> > to be
> > > benign utopias that allowed people to discover who they could be
> > when
> > freed
> > > from the economic and social restraints that shackle them in real
> > life.
> > >
> > > But it has not turned out like that at all.
> > >
> > > The dark side of Alphaville has been documented by one of its
> > former
> > > "residents", Peter Ludlow, who in real life is a philosophy
> > professor at
> > the
> > > University of Michigan.
> > >
> > >
> > > Urizenus, one of the avatars controlled by Prof Ludlow, was chief
> > reporter
> > > on a newspaper called The Alphaville Herald which featured
> > interviews with
> > > Alphaville's child prostitutes, sadomasochists, Sims Mafioso,
> > thieves and
> > > members of its shadow government.
> > > "The Alphaville Herald was not supposed to document dodgy things,"
> > he
> > says.
> > > "It was done to document the emergence of economic, social and
> > political
> > > structures in the game."
> > >
> > > Like increasing numbers of academics Mr Ludlow is interested in
> > virtual
> > game
> > > worlds like The Sims Online because they act as live, accelerated
> > > laboratories for studying the ways people interact, get on and fall
> > out.
> > >
> > > But as the problems of The Sims Online mounted The Alphaville
> > Herald -
> > which
> > > exists as a separate website - became a guidebook to the goings-on
> > in this
> > > dystopia.
> > >
> > > Action and reaction
> > >
> > > Mr Ludlow thought the people behind the game should know what was
> > going on
> > > inside Alphaville, not least because some things - child
> > prostitution, for
> > > example - are morally and legally troubling.
> > >
> > >
> > > But when they found out, Maxis, the game's developers, and
> > Electronic
> > Arts,
> > > the distributors, banned all in-game mention of The Alphaville
> > Herald,
> > says
> > > Mr Ludlow.
> > > Then, says Mr Ludlow, he was thrown out of the game and his
> > accounts
> > closed
> > > down, cutting him off from his Sims.
> > >
> > > EA and Maxis say they are aware of Prof Ludlow's comments, that
> > they are
> > > dealing with customer queries collectively and cannot talk about
> > individual
> > > accounts.
> > >
> > > They will "continue to monitor external issues as appropriate".
> > They
> > > declined to comment further. "
> > >
> > >
> > > Dirk
> > >
> > > The Consensus:-
> > > The political party for the new millennium
> > > http://www.theconsensus.org
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
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> >
> > _______________________________________________
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>
>
> =====
> Mike Lorrey
> "Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils."
>                                        - Gen. John Stark
> "Fascists are objectively pro-pacifist..."
>                                        - Mike Lorrey
> Do not label me, I am an ism of one...
> Sado-Mikeyism: http://mikeysoft.zblogger.com
>
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