There must be a huge body of comment and thought about this burgeoning virtual space but here goes anyway. Some drafty thoughts:
I signed up yesterday (http://secondlife.com) – over 3 million virtual citizens – avatars. I have not even passed through my orientation yet. I’m a newbie so can’t make any claims of expertise. There is so much that this concept encapsulates. Its amazing and somewhat scary at the same time. Its a bit like an open source Truman Show where everybody makes it happen. But.. but there is still the ghost in the machine handling (and collecting) the money, making the “laws of nature” defining the boundaries – the “super landlord”. One could check out of physical life quite substantially and live out an existence in this space. There is a stream of thought that criticises an obsessive absorption with virtual reality. How different is this to people seeking out a life of meditation? Some even bricking themselves into a wall in a church – moving as much as physically possible into an inner world of contemplation – is this reality not also virtual where you engage with “virtual” entities – spirits, visions, voices powers and principalities – to some end. The intention might be “higher”. I can hardly imagine that all the citizens of cyber space are fervently and consciously seeking enlightenment through their cyber lives – and yet in another sense we all are. So virtual reality is not new in my opinion. It reinforces the notion of meaning and attention creating reality which movies like “What the Bleep…” and “The Secret” have made popular. As soon as we attach meaning to something it establishes itself in reality whether it has physical substance or not.
One of many angles: Jungians encourage fantasy, particularly in relationships; the idea being that if one works out one’s longings and desires in an appropriately held fantasy space it facilitates the growth and integration that the soul needs/seeks without sustaining the damage that acting those things out in physical reality might bring about. I buy into this idea with a litle ambivalence. I can’t quite dispense with the element of psychic masturbation – a caricature / substitute that waters down the gritty nature of our incarnated existence. Virtual reality facilitates this notion in much more tangible and graphic terms. While most people play in these environments without being that conscious of their intentions beyond play, exploration, and exploitation it seems to me that one might work with this at quite a different level. Pippa: I think again about your project where you set out to kill a thousand people in a virtual world (what did you call it?). Your intent being beyond some gratuitous entertainment or mindless exploration. I hope I’m not misrepresenting you. I would love to know your thoughts on SecondLife.
So I throw this into the pool and hope some ripples will emanate from places other than where my stone plopped.
Where do you want to be? See also Nic’s 
