A Babylonian Scholar Returns To Second Life

"alsarmady Eel" is the Second Life name of an arts professor who lives in Babylon, Iraq.  Last year he joined SL because he decided the metaverse was, as he puts it, "the 8th art", allowing "people from anywhere... to see how they want to be in the imagination." An appealing notion, one that he'd written extensively about.  But because broadband in Iraq is still unreliable for reasons too many and painful to mention here, his understanding of this strange virtual world based in San Francisco, California remained mainly abstract and second hand.  (The few times he was able to log in successfully, he'd just briefly appear as an unresolved blur.)   I wrote about him last December, and sporadically kept in touch since then, but via e-mail, and other non-immersive Internet channels.

Last week, however, I received an Instant Message from alsarmady Eel, sent within Second Life itself.

"Hahahahah," he announced, after I teleported over to find him standing in a thatched hut by the sea.  "From Iraq.  Nice to see you here.  I got better Internet, but how do I look?"

"Very skinny," I observed after awhile.

Professor Eel had managed to find an ISP in Iraq that provided wireless service, he explained, and though the service was rather pricey, he paid it to be in Second Life.  "I am so happy and lost," he said. "Please take me to somewhere I can talk about my theory."  And because I worried that taking him anywhere might cause him to crash, I brought the art to him, so to speak-- namely, Bettina Tizzy, Dusan Writer, and Eshi Otawara, who write about or express ideas similar to his.

After some brief introductions, Professor Eel told them what was on his mind.  "I am asking the philosophers all over:  what philosophy can describe and appropriate explaining this interactive digital life?!"

"You should meet Tom," Dusan began, "he has an enlightened view of Second Life as a culture..."

"The answer," Alsarmady continued, heedless, "is there is no theory about that!!!"

So they continued talking, but I had to go.  I left Alsarmady to get to know his new friends.  Then hours after I'd logged out, I discovered something wonderful had happened. 

Bettina Tizzy and Eshi Otawara had taken him to a sandbox, so they could show him marvelous virtual objects from their inventory.  At that moment, his connection faltered, and so he stood there frozen for awhile, and relayed another request via Skype.

"He asked us to do him a favor," Bettina wrote me, "on behalf of all of the people of Iraq: he wanted us to make him a new Iraqi flag." 

But Eshi had another idea. 

"She said, 'No, I will not make your flag, but I will teach you to make your own. And she did.'"

So she showed him how to turn a primitive into a banner, then another into a pole, then how to upload a texture.  He worked diligently from his computer terminal in Babylon, and after some time, alsarmady Eel was done.  So he raised the flag of his country over this other place in which he'd also become a citizen.

Last two images courtesy Ms. Tizzy and Otawara.

Comments

[Corcosman Voom]

"No, I will not make your flag, but I will teach you to make your own."

Yay!! Way to go, Eshi!

[Laetizia Coronet]

Ahlan wasahlan ya alsarmady!

[Gahum Riptide]

That was a wonderful article, Hamlet. If Professor Alsarmady is reading, welcome back to SL.

[Nightbird Glineux]

"I brought the art to him, so to speak-- namely, Bettina Tizzy, Dusan Writer, and Eshi Otawara, who write about or express ideas similar to his."

Yay! Great job, Hamlet.

[Celebrim]

"No, I will not make your flag, but I will teach you to make your own."

Now THAT is American.

[CyFishy Traveler]

Marvelous. Makes me proud to be in this world.

[Bettina Tizzy]

There have been some unforgetable moments in my Second Life, and this was certainly one of them. I was especially touched by YOUR excitement and enthusiasm at sharing Second Life with Professor Eel, Hamlet. It was contagious.

[Oyster]

I don't play Second Life, but I do play DDO and getting to know others around the world has been particularly enriching. This is a wonderful story! Thanx for sharing it.

[Faerie]

This is such an uplifting story on so many levels.

[Simondo Nebestanka]

This story is such a wonderful antidote to the frequent 'bashing' SL receives from all directions. SL is such an engaging way to bring souls and minds together, whom otherwise might never have had an opportunity to meet. Here's to hoping that some day SL, and/or other virtual worlds to follow, may be sufficiently ubiquitous that stories like this one will be unremarkable. Considering the situation in his location, this is terrific.

Great story.

[Nightbird Glineux]

Hmm. For Alsarmady to consider SL as an "8th Art," would that mean that there is a canonical list of seven arts? Does he mean this:

http://cosmopolis.com/villa/liberal-arts.html

[Hamlet Au]

Yeah, I believe so.