New World Notes

UNCANNY VALLEY: THE FINAL PUSH!

Just over 12 hours remain to vote on the Uncanny Valley Expo Finalists!  Right now, with nearly 500 votes counted, it's a teeth-grindingly close race between two entries.  Go here to look at the finalists, go here to vote, and here to follow the count.

THE SECOND LIFE OF JUDGE RICHARD A. POSNER

If you want to gain a deeper sense of an influential thinker, bring him into an alien environment where he's beset on all sides by humanoid animals, supermodels, and intermittent fireballs, and see how he engages the unpredictable world around him-- my personal conclusion for what follows after the break:  The lightly edited transcript of December 7th's evening in Second Life with Judge Richard A. Posner's avatar. 

WHAT GWYN KNOWS

Screenshot by Moon Adamant

Somewhere above the quiet streets of Portugal is a woman who appears in Second Life as a beguiling redhead in stiletto heels and a Nicole Kidman topography, and somehow, though I know nothing else about her, I trust her most to explain how SL is developing as a metaverse-- and what will need to happen, to get it there.  "Upgrading Second Life, and Why It Is So Hard To Do So" is Gwyneth Llewelyn's latest epic essay, and if you've been wondering about that very question, this is the blog entry you need to read.  I should be running another story from her on this blog this week.

OPEN FORUM: THE IDEAL SL LAPTOP?

I'm looking to buy a new laptop with the strangest spec requirement of all:  it has to run a fully streamed, virtual 3D world, and run it extremely well.  Who can recommend a notebook PC that's optimal for Second Life?

TROUBLE EXPLORING

If you're reading this blog via Internet Explorer, this post is probably way the hell down the page, below an embarrasingly large block of white space.  My apologies for this mysterious script error; I've alerted Federated Media's web ninja to attack it ASAP.  (And thanks to the IE readers who alerted me on this.) Meantime, I should point out that New World Notes loads just fine with Firefox-- so if you've been wondering about the web browser all the cools kids are into nowadays, now might be a good time. 

OPEN FORUM WEEKEND

If you've got an SL-based topic you want to talk about, or an announcement/
project/event you want to mention, post and discuss here. On Monday, I'll highlight interesting Comments and commentators in an update.  (The screenshot, by the way, was taken almost exacatly three years ago, during a Town Hall meeting in which Philip Linden tried to convince Residents-- many of whom were vehemently skeptical-- that charging them US$ to own virtual land was a good idea.)

NEW WORLD GROUP DIRECTORY

Tireless clockmaker SignpostMarv Martin passes along three groups for my NWN Group Directory, a semi-updated compendium of publicly-accessible, non-commercial groups which bring cultural value to the world and its Residents. Fans of Sid Meier, Wikipedia, and Linden Script Language, read on.

POSING WITH POSNER

Update, 12/13: The illustrated transcript of Judge Posner's 12/7 appearance in Second Life is now online at this link.

The conversation ranged from coercive interrogation of terror suspects to intellectual property in online worlds; the audience included several aliens, mutants, babes in 6 inch stilleto heels, and Judge Richard Posner's favorite audience member of all, a human-sized raccoon.  And despite a couple griefer attacks with fireballs and a giant flying block of wood, the Judge pressed on unfazed with agile wit, as if he always gave lectures in the metaverse.

Next Monday, I'll post the transcript of what must be Judge Posner's strangest public conversation on law in the 21st century.   I also hope it's about as enlightening, too.  Meantime, here's his avatar in an after-talk photo op with what must be the strangest member of the ACLU.

MIA FARROW, AVATARIZED FOR DARFUR

Courtesy of Lichtenstien Creative Media

Tomorrow at 9am, actress and activist Mia Farrow will appear in Second Life to speak about the ongoing genocide in the Sudan, and her recent trip through neighboring Chad.  Details at Rik's Picks.  Screenshot of Farrow's avatar courtesy of her hosts at Infinite Mind island.

YOUR TUBE, YOUR IMAGINATION

Online world as new artist's medium.  I haven't had a chance to attend a performance designed by DanCoyote Antonelli, founder of a new school of metaverse-era art theory he calls hyperformalism, but Gary Hazlitt has.  See the movie Hazlitt shot at a recent showing of Antonelli's ZeroG SkyDancers (evocative, though it's clear you need to attend the show in-person, to get its full power), then read his detailed and thought-provoking write-up of the event and interview with Antonelli here.