Yes, I do also have a premium SL account. Didn't use it every much yet tho. Did you ever read Permutation City and Diaspora by Greg Egan? Two of my favorite books. A must read for everyone interested in "?<span style="font-style: italic;">
virtual</span>?"-worlds and uploading. I've also installed <a href="http://www.project-entropia.com/">Project Entropia</a> lately, but didn't check it out yet. Another free <span style="font-style: italic;">metaverse.
</span>I'll see about the Future Salon later today. I've already heard about it before, great idea!<br><br>XiXiDu<br><br>P.S.<br>My SL name is XiXiDu Aleixandre<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">2005/12/11, Giu1i0 Pri5c0 <
<a href="mailto:pgptag@gmail.com">pgptag@gmail.com</a>>:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><span class="gmail_quote">
Second Life becomes more and more interesting. Any other user here? I will try to go to the Future Salon meeting below, anyone going? Perhaps we should build a classy transhumanist meeting place there.
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<span class="gmail_quote"></span>I have been interested in virtual world after reading <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Stephenson" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">Neal Stephenson
</a>'s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"> Snow Crash</a> (1992) and have occasionally experimented with virtual worlds on the net since. In the mid 90s I used to visit one of the first virtual worlds on the net, Worlds Away (now
<a href="http://www.vzones.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">VZones</a>). But I have never been an addicted, probably because I never liked computer games too much.<br>Now since I bought a new sufficiently powerful PC I am spending some time in the
<a href="http://secondlife.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">Second Life</a> virtual world, which is the most similar to Stephenson's metaverse that I have seen (from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
Wikipedia entry on Second Life </a>: "Many <i>Second Life</i> residents have noted the similarities between <i>Second Life</i> and the <span>Metaverse</span> from <span>Neal Stephenson</span>'s <span>Snow Crash
</span><i><a title="Snow Crash" href="http://wiki/Snow_Crash" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"> </a></i>. This is actually a stated goal of Linden Lab - to create a user-defined world of general use in which people can interact, play, do business and otherwise communicate").
<br>Of the public open VR worlds that I have seen (I have seen some very high tech and very closed ones, but this is another thing), this is the first realistic enough to create a "real VR" experience (perhaps
<a href="http://lindenlab.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">Linden Lab</a> have been the first to spend real money). My interest in SL has been boosted by reading <a href="http://www.business2.com/b2/web/articles/0,17863,1127659,00.html" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
this Business2.0 article</a> which explains how SL has already evolved into a real VR world with a lot of interacting users and a real economy that permits making real money in VR. See also <a href="http://www.fortune.com/fortune/technology/articles/0,15114,1130814,00.html" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
this Fortune article</a>. Some "evident" business models are already being exploited, other more sophisticated will be developed, and someday someone will make a lot of money.<br>So I have upgraded my free account to a premium one so I can purchase land and property, building a house etc. The name I have chosen for my avatar is Giulio Perhaps. For some reason you can freely choose your first name but have to pick your family name from a list, and "perhaps" is a beautiful word. Many interesting sentences start with this word, for example "perhaps in a few decades I will upload my consciousness to my SL avatar and live permanently in SL".
<br>One of the things to do today in Second Life is visiting a virtual <span>Future Salon</span>. The <a href="http://accelerating.org/futuresalons.html" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
Future Salons Network </a> runs one in Second Life besides those in the Bay Area, LA, Seattle etc. More details in the article "<a href="http://slfuturesalon.blogs.com/second_life_future_salon/2005/04/why_second_life.html" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
Second Life Future Salon: <span>Why Meet in Second Life?</span></a>" on the <a href="http://slfuturesalon.blogs.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">Second Life Future Salon blog
</a>. I look forward to attending the SL Future Salon next week.<span></span><br></span></div><span><font color="gray" size="2"></font>
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