When I read MIT anthropologist Sherry Turkle’s book Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other last year, the sections on robotic companions weren’t my main focus but I found them fascinating. She wrote about observing interactions between older Japanese people in a nursing home and a robotic harp seal called…
From Linden Labs: When I present research done in Second Life, I usually surprise my audience by saying that it’s still around and going strong. It just doesn’t get as much sensationalist press of the “look at all the freaks!” variety, and that’s a good thing. (Not that I’m saying there aren’t lots of freaks…
If you have been following transhumanist thinkers or prophets of the singularity (Ray Kurzweil et al), the ambitious 2045 Initiative may be familiar to you. Its lofty goal is to accelerate us from being consumers who do nothing more than maintain the status quo (the dismissive view of humanity today, as seen in the video above)…
Can you believe Second Life has been around for 10 years? (For non-SL residents, can you believe it’s still going strong?) There are a number of celebrations this month, including the SL10B Community Celebration, which opens on the 16th and where I’ll be volunteering. You can also pick up some freebie SL10B souvenirs in the Marketplace, like…
Andrew Reisse’s car was struck by a fleeing vehicle during a high speed pursuit in Santa Ana and the 33 year old engineer was killed. It’s a tragedy for Oculus VR, whose Oculus Rift headset is getting amazing reviews and is planned to be supported inside Second Life. Arch Virtual had a great post in…
The annual KPCB Internet Trends report is out. It’s US-centric and doesn’t look at immersive worlds or gaming, but I think it’s important data for people who think about those topics. Consider, for example, the growth in tablets and mobile devices versus desktop/notebook — the computers usually required for virtual world use. Or the increase…
As personal technology has become ubiquitous, generational stratification in the US is increasingly being defined by how one interacts with tech. My friends of all ages tend to be early adopters and my personal experience is skewed, so sometimes I need to look up from typing, put on my anthropologist hat (a spiffy pith helmet,…