THE DAWKINS DELUSION

The world's foremost atheist has a godly incarnation.  Richard Dawkins has a Second Life avatar, a word which originates from Hindu theology. He initially appeared in SL through a real world lecture video streamed in-world, in late May, then returned in avatar form, to watch people watching that stream.

“I have to confess I've been in there myself, as an avatar, incognito," he impishly told a UK Telegraph reporter recently, "and I've seen people in there watching it, and I’ve even actually had conversations with them."  Leading to a moment that can only be called the "Dawkins delusion"-- fixating on a video of Dawkins without realizing there's a Dawkins-controlled avatar standing right next to you.

I've transcribed the most SL-relevant passages from the interview: in it, Dawkins begins by describing “huge overlaps" between his work and Second Life:  "[O]ne aspect is artificial life, and I’ve played a little bit of a role in that in the early days when it was still starting up in the 1980s, I suppose."  (I wonder if anyone's told him about the ant colony or the school of evolving fish, or, of course, Svarga.)

"But there’s also fascinating things," Dawkins continues, "for example, I think it’s reasonable to say that when you and I think we see the real world… what we’re really seeing in a sense is a simulation in our own head. And the evidence for this is the way we see visual illusions, which are just what you would expect to see if we are simulating a virtual reality in our heads.  A virtual reality which is steered and guided by the real world through our sense organs.   

"And that’s pretty much like Second Life, it is virtual, but it’s steered by everybody in there… steering their avatars.  And so this virtual world is getting constant input from the outside real world, from people steering their avatars about, and even building, I mean every house down there, every edifice, every golf course, whatever is down there, has been built by humans from outside controlling their avatars and controlling the bricks and virtual mortar that they use to build things." 

The reporter wonders if SL could become a kind of laboratory to observe "evolution in action", and Dawkins assents:

"I’ve been thinking about that.  I think that certainly there’s very scientific research you could do in Second Life… I mean sociological research, psychological research, it could be very interesting.  I suppose you could imagine some science fiction scenario in the distant future when people live in SL so much that they hardly even know there is an outside world and it becomes a matter of theological speculation of what goes on in the outside world."  Interestingly, many of the ideas Dawkins casually throws out here are very much aligned with Philip Linden's ultimate vision of Second Life-- as I'll lay out in my book.

Image credit and hat tip: Richarddawkins.net.

Comments

[doug]

It's really interesting what Dawkins is saying about virtual reality through the sense organs, as I was just tinkering with that kind of phrasing in an article that i am writing about Second Life.

It's phenomenonal to think that the people who built Second Life must have had an idea that when we play in virtual reality we are really playing with our perception, and the repercussions that can have on how we use our real world perception to frame who it is we think we are.

[Kami Harbinger]

Is there something in the air right now?

I just posted about perceptions of reality and videogames on my blog.

[Patrick]

If you can see yourself using yourself to control your avatar, does that make you a Higher Power?

[chris]

I suppose you could imagine some science fiction scenario in the distant future when people live in SL so much that they hardly even know there is an outside world and it becomes a matter of theological speculation of what goes on in the outside world." Interestingly, many of the ideas Dawkins casually throws out here are very much aligned with Philip Linden's ultimate vision of Second Life-- as I'll lay out in my book.

imagine sci fi about vr? ol

how also do yu prove the worldsforemost atheist?

he believes god dosent exist the most?...lol
the future here. the past still looks silly.