Red ~C Diary: Witnessing the Metaverse

'After catching the first Matrix film with some RealNetworks colleagues, Rosedale left the theater glum, announcing to them, "But that's what I was gonna make!"' - Philip Rosedale via The Making of Second Life

My avatar is already more than a year old but it wasn't until I attended virtual Conversation Week that my interest in SL was rekindled. Serendipitously, last week while I was browsing the bookstore at Dublin airport the book, The Making of Second Life by Wagner James Au, jumped right at me. I took it as a sign and devoured it during my 14-hour flight back home.

In one sitting I was educated with the history of SL, its ups and downs, its current impact on our culture, business, politics, economics, and its (almost sci-fi) potentials similar to Neal Stephenson's vision of the metaverse. I particularly enjoyed reading about the mirrored flourishing stories of in-world residents, the virtual revolts and cultural transformations of virtual groups and societies. From a psycho-social point of view, watching the history of SL is like witnessing the cultural evolution of humanity, in hyper-speed. Linden Lab (creators of Second Life) is akin to a group of benevolent dictators and Philosopher Kings who maintain order in a virtual world by allowing residents to do as they please within the bounds of SL's code of conduct. When viewed from an integral perspective, SL is a grand experiment on integral in-world governance. And when viewed from a psycho-spiritual perspective, explorations in SL can be used to aid in one's witnessing practice.  (I'll groove more on the topic of using SL for spiritual practice in future posts. In the meantime, check out a parallel discussion on Open Source Integral.)

During the past week I have immersed myself in the virtual realm of Second Life® before retiring to sleep. I've meditated on air at SL integral, explored the green and sustainable community at Etopia Eco-village, did Tai Chi in a silk blue kimono, dressed up as a Samurai wielding the "three buddhas" katana, drank unlimited cans of Red Bull, practiced Tibetan Buddhist meditation, took a crash course on machinima-tography, sat on a campfire near a pyramid in Mexico, all the while taking snapshots of my in-world explorations using my trusty old Macbook Pro.

So what did I get out my in-world explorations? I'm glad to report that I'm now up to speed with SL. I've become proficient with navigation and the basics of in-world content creation. But more importantly, I've forged new connections with like-minded creative people who are out there exploring in-world and dreaming up better worlds. (We've also started a Metaverse Pod @ Gaia for members who want to meet up and learn together in virtual reality.)

Second Life is only one of the big slices of the metaverse but its on a category of its own. It mirrors real life (and wonderland) more than any other MMORPGs. It's not a game, it's an experience. But unlike the web, SL is not (yet) for everyone. Its early incarnation is still clunky. It has a high barrier to entry, a steep learning curve, as well as a need for a shift in mentality to be able to embrace and welcome its possibilities.

I harbor no illusion that SL is an "escape" from for the "real" world (what is "real" anyway?). SL is just another medium. It's a tool to be used for rapid prototyping of one's vision, expressing individual and collective creativity, and experiencing a richer sense of community not possible in meatspace. In short, SL is an extension of consciousness projection.

In the meantime, I'll continue with my in-world explorations. SL made it possible for my blogging persona to have an avatar form. In essence, my SL persona is a "third-order reality." Technically, my SL avatar is not my "second" life because I consider my blogging persona as my "second." My SL avatar is a digital incarnation of this blogging persona, not my "first" life. Yet they're all inseparably connected and meshed together in a single conscious life-stream I call "I."

"Real" world blogging on real world topics resumes shortly. But expect to see in-world blogging from time to time.