View From The Left Coast

Last fall I had heard about a thing called One Laptop per Child, a laptop computer designed for children, specifically Third World children who don’t have access to books and classrooms, much less computers. A man named Negroponte had designed this little gem, and, long with a group of other like-minded people, set out to create a $100 laptop that allows kids to play and learn in a surprisingly vast number of ways. It’s a non-profit company competing with the likes of Intel and Microsoft, and uses Linux-based “open source” software, which is one of the main reasons the price is so low.

OLPC was having a promotion where, if a person donated to the company twice the cost of the computer, one would be sent to you and another would be provided free to children in, say, Afghanistan or Zimbabwe. I bought in, and enough other people did that OLPC couldn’t keep up with demand: four months after I ordered it, my little green and white laptop arrived.

The XO (as it is called) I received did not come with instructions. Like most things electronic, if you want to find out how to run it, you have to “go online”. I did so, downloaded instructions, and then visited an online forum to see what other XO users had to say about it. I’m pretty new to online mass communication, so when it asked for my user name, and then my real name, I wondered why people wouldn’t just use their real name. I’ve wondered the same thing about the blogosphere: you were given a name by your parents, it’s what people have called you since you were an infant, why would you need another?

Now I know: it turns out there are alternate Worlds.

The second step in yesterday’s journey into tomorrow was attending a presentation about a thing called Second Life, which has one of those little “registered trade mark” bugs flying after it.

Second Life, says Wikipedia, is an internet-based virtual world launched in 2003, developed by Linden Research, Inc, which came to international attention via mainstream news media in 2006 and early 2007. A downloadable client program enables its users, called “Residents”, to interact with each other through motional avatars, providing an advanced level of social network service combined with general aspects of a metaverse. Residents can explore, meet other Residents, socialize, participate in individual or group activities, have virtual sex, and create and trade items (virtual property) and services with one another.

Second Life is one of several virtual worlds that have been created by the cyberpunk literary movement, and particularly by Neal Stephenson’s novel “Snow Crash.” There is no fee for registering an account or participating in Second Life, however registration of “payment information” (i.e. a credit card) is mandatory to participate in some functions, such as owning land or islands, as well as access to certain support features such as Second Life’s support portal and online forums.

Among the Real World (no trademark) organizations that can and do relate to their employees, at least in part, through Second Life are IBM, NASA, the National Weather Service and the State Department.

Something about all this sets off little warning bells for me (well, virtually). I’ve long feared that more and more, with the pervasiveness of media-based human programming, the line between reality and fantasy is becoming blurred, to the point where the Simpsons have more room in people’s minds than their families, their jobs or their bodies.

Ours has become a world where people are sitting at computer screens or televisions weaving dreams. It’s getting easier to confuse reality TV with reality, but then to have virtual worlds as the connection to work seems another step in the direction of some bizarre dystopia, where vast armies of First World people are opting out of the real world with caffeine, prozac, meth, the internet and Viagra. They are enticed by prose like this, from the Second Life website: “From the moment you enter The World you’ll discover a vast digital continent, teeming with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity. Once you’ve explored a bit, perhaps you’ll find a perfect parcel of land to build your house or business.”

Apparently there are now at least six Virtual Worlds, where people can live, work, and have virtual sex, all without being exposed to actual humans.

One is left to wonder--Is our Real World that boring and hopeless, and is the prospect of fixing it only another pipe dream? And if corporations are persons, with constitutional rights, why not virtual persons?