Alternate Virtual Reality
Posted on: January 25, 2007Through a voice that came to me — my own, needing to sate creative urges — I've deprecated "SL2086" and "qrn zub" in favor of a more forward-facing title:
Remember these?
and more, all the way, thus far, to…
For while I'm in Second Life, quite so often, I see what's around me existing on a parallel — more wonderful, in many respects — plain|plane. This is specifically to mean that I have high hopes for a future, but my restless mind travels over to see what happens there, and place it alongside the present, side-by-side.
Join me, will you?
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January 25th, 2007 at 7:26 AM PST
I wonder Torley, does writing under erasure have any relevance to this post, and also in some way to The Majesty of Science? Where I'm coming from on that one is, sometimes I think it's fun to think of the scientific viewpoint of the universe in philosophical terms, for example the classic "Bugs Bunny" cartoon where he can stand on thin air because, as he says, "I never studied law."
Perhaps then "we" - as humans - only experience the world/universe the way we do because we "know" things on a fundamental level, as in we are born with certain fundamentals "hard wired" into our being that simultaneously prevent us from perceiving outside our physical realm while enabling us to be - in the way that we perceive "being" - in the first place. That line of thinking of course implies that if "we" - again, as humans - could somehow break away from those fundamentals then by definition we [humans] would cease to be human, because those fundamentals are what define us as a human entity even as they limit us. Yet if we could transcend those limits we would still be sentient and alive, but perhaps not in ways that we would describe those qualities in our base human state.
Returning to the "Bugs Bunny" quote, I find it fun to think about because essentially gravity is a limitation of our physical presence; we're made of matter and matter responds to gravity. This is built in on a fundamental level and to "unlearn" this [law] would, in the context of what I just described, mean freeing ourselves from our physical being. Given that SL is completely dependent on the physical realm I'm not sure that it, or other virtual systems like it, will usher in a revolution or ascension of humanity, but that if we reach a point where, for example, someone writes a true AI that passes the Turing test and then that AI reproduces independently; that might teach us some things about the nature of existence.
January 26th, 2007 at 4:29 PM PST
Apollo, that's some really deep thoughts. I'm interested in philosophy as applied to comical situations; that Bugs Bunny example is a fantastic one. We know, to a less extraordinary (but all too common) degree, that many people's fears hold them back and imprison them from making dreams come true. I call it "mindjail".
I certainly have seen many instances where someone simply couldn't conceive of a notion, or the possibility of an idea, until someone else more imaginative manifested it into being — or brought it closer, by way of a diagram, or some sort of conceptual construct which made it less abstract.
I'm reminded of Hugh McLeod's recent brilliant guide, "How to Be Creative". He (while he doesn't say it directly, this is how I interpreted it) touches on some people's fear of being childlike again, and drawing with crayons.
Hollywood knows no end to transcending reality; The Matrix always comes to mind when "unlearning the law"; as you mention, and as I actually followed up on in "Is that you, Alaric?", I believe machines can teach us more about being human.
Even amongst current-day people, I'm surprised how taboos — be they cultural, religious, or otherwise — can so staunchly paralyze someone's actions. Time and time again, we continue to be amazed by superathletes and street magicians, while everyday wonder via empirically exploring our existences often comes about in a more procedural, subtle, "I-didn't-realize-that-until-I-looked-back" way.