New World Notes

There's Not Enough Computing Power in the World for a Fully Sentient, Independent AI (Reader Opinion of the Week)

Smart thoughts from reader and tech exec veteran Luther Weymann, reflecting on the questions of AI sentience brought up by a recent Washington Post story on the Google developer who believes the company's chat bot has already achieved it:

Artificial intelligence programs running on machines use databases on computer systems to receive instruction for action and sound. These databases can deliver information from dedicated databases. Still, more likely for more human-like interaction, the data comes from many types of databases into a central repository and then to the machine.

The ability to have anything even approaching what we socially call “sentient AI” will require mainframe processing and a massive database repository at the ready. Conventional servers process about 300 million operations a second. To truly power AI into a world where the AI machine will be really human-like is going to take mainframe power into the 300 billion operations a second capacity. Mainframe databases, when appropriately distributed, can meet that challenge.

But now comes the exciting part:

Top 5 Posts: Inside VRChat's YouTube Ecosystem, Virtual Real Estate Backlash & My Upcoming Metaverse Book!

• Quintin Smith: Questions ROBLOX Still Hasn't Answered About Its Platform
• Throwback Thursday: The First Backlash Against Metaverse Real Estate
• There's Well Over 10 Million Subscribers To VRChat Content On YouTube!
• NEWS: My Next Book, Why The Metaverse Matters, Is Coming Out For Second Life's 20th Anniversary!
• Is It Fair To Analyze Blockchain-Based Metaverse Platforms Based On Their User Numbers, Not Potential?

Events: SeraPride Opens Tomorrow, SL19B Music Fest Continues With Legendary Performers Like Skye Galaxy & Frogg Marlowe

Second Life events abound today and this weekend. Starting tomorrow at 11:30am PT, New World Notes' media partner Seraphim opens their fun and fabulous SeraPride extravaganza gala to support a seriously important real world cause:

SeraPride is their annual one day fundraising event. Last year the event raised well over $3000 USD. Hoping to raise even more this year, the festivities will start on June 18th at 11:30am PT and throughout the day there will be DJs, a Drag Race, SeraPride Idol, Raffles, Giveaways, and more! All proceeds will benefit Rainbow Railroad, a small Canadian based organization that helps LGBTQI+ people threatened for their lives to relocate to a safe place. 

[Click here to teleport into Serapride]

And as Casja just blogged, SL's official 19th anniversary party started yesterday. That means it's pretty much my 18th year of grousing that the birthday is pinned to the world's commercial opening, when I think it should be tied to the moment when the first closed beta user created the first content in Second Life.

Anyway! SL19B includes a massive music fest, featuring many legendary live music performers who've been singing in SL for years. That includes breakout star Skye Galaxy and -- holy crap -- blues singer Frogg Marlowe, who I first wrote about in 2005, jamming with fellow stalwart Jaycatt Nico.

Check out the whole music fest calendar here.

Steampunk-Flavored Shopping Tips for Second Life's 19th Birthday!

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Yesterday was the grand opening of S19B, the 19th birthday party of Second Life. I cast about to see if any bloggers had been reporting yet and found “SL19B Is Open” from Chic Aeon of Chic at Phil’s Place. This is her eighth or ninth year building for the event and was excited to find her build was right by the Arboretum, her favorite of the Linden builds. The theme this year is steampunk so the builds should be a lot of fun. 

For more from SL19B, click here:

Quintin Smith: Questions ROBLOX Still Hasn't Answered About Its Platform

The Washington Post recently ran this great article on the power and influence of the YouTube channel People Make Games, which ROBLOX reportedly "pressured" to make a retraction when it started looking into serious allegations about the metaverse platform. The Washington Post confirms that the company did request a retraction, and gets what People Make Games couldn't get, despite many tries -- an official reply from ROBLOX:

In a statement to The Post, Roblox’s Nevius characterized both of PMG’s videos as “not accurate,” saying they contain claims “in pursuit of clicks that downplay or outright ignore numerous features and parental controls we have in place to ensure our platform provides a safe, civil and welcoming space for people of all ages to play and connect.”

Nevius also pointed to parents’ ability to set in-game spending limits on their kids, as well as a “large, expertly trained” moderation team that targets scams and inappropriate content and “aggressively deters” users moving “Roblox”-related transactions to unsafe websites. He also said that, despite “Roblox’s” young audience, the “vast majority” of top-earning and most-played developers on the platform are over 18.

People Make Games' Quintin Smith (that's him on the couch up there), however, isn't satisficed with that answer, and told me why in great detail:

Throwback Thursday: The First Backlash Against Metaverse Real Estate

When I express my skepticism over blockchain-based metaverse platforms, despite a "boom" of major companies and brands buying virtual real estate in them, here's why: It's happened before. From 2006-2008, major companies and brands like Adidas, American Apparel, BMW, Dell, Duran Duran, Nissan, NBC, and so on (and on), bought virtual land in Second Life, mainly to use as marketing outreach to the SL userbase.

Two small problems:

• As Internet academic Clay Shirky noted, the SL userbase wasn't really growing all that much.
• And as Wired magazine reported, hardly anyone in the SL userbase was even showing up at these branded locations in Second Life.

The Wired story got a lot technically wrong (which you can read about here), but that basic narrative was true.

Today's SL Flickr Pick: Extraordinary Images by Tutsy Navarantha

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Tutsy Navarantha’s photostream is rich in extraordinary pictures, so much so that I struggled to find a single theme for this column. I decided to showcase his pictures that feature him as a witness. He takes many pics of himself, usually in silhouette, observing the land- or cityscape. “Nothing to do but walk” is an excellent example. 

For more pictures of Tutsy as witness, click here:

There's Well Over 10 Million Subscribers to VRChat Content on YouTube!

When we talk about user-generated content on metaverse platforms, it's important to focus not just on 3D models and scripted experiences in-world, but metaverse content created for external consumption -- for instance, quite prominently, for social media/streaming video platforms.

With VRChat, for instance, in compiling a list of YouTube channels focused on that platform, there's dozens of them devoted to that platform, with the top ten amassing well over 10 million subscribers. Discounting overlaps of unique users, that's likely more active viewers for VRChat content on YouTube than there are players of VRChat. 

As a sample, here's 10 YouTube channels with a heavy (or complete) focus on VRChat which have 500,000 or more subscribers. Starting above, doing a walk through of a survival horror game in VRChat, by NadditionVR (512K subs).

After the break, a surprisingly well-made VRChat machinima (Spanish only) by Jailden Wold (594 subs):

Skippy Beresford Makes the Virtual World Look Like a Kids' Picture Book

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Skippy Beresford is absolutely one of my favorite Second Life Flickr members. His pictures always tell a story and illustrate a positive aphorism. For example, this picture’s title comes from Mother Teresa, who said, “Spread love wherever you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.” There is a playful spirit inhabiting all his pictures. He is also very generous in posting praise of other people’s pictures. He has a deep love of ships and if there is a boat in your picture, he will find the pic and comment, “Ship!” 

Sometimes he even posts his own “ship”, click here:

NEWS: My Next Book, Why the Metaverse Matters, is Coming Out for Second Life's 20th Anniversary!

I've been wanting to make this announcement for months, and now I finally can, through this scoop from Dean Takahashi on VentureBeat:

For a guy who was an embedded journalist inside the virtual world of Second Life, this whole metaverse thing is a ride around the merry-go-round again.

And so Wagner James Au, who previously wrote a book on his Second Life experiences, is now writing a book dubbed Why the Metaverse Matters: From Second Life to Meta & Beyond, A Guide by Its First Embedded Journalist.

In an interview with GamesBeat, Au said his focus is on the metaverse user communities, especially the grassroots creators, which make these platforms meaningful. He will explore the continued influence of Second Life on the evolution of the metaverse platforms, and uncover the mystery of Second Life...

Much more here -- and much more soon on New World Notes. I fully plan to keep blogging as the book takes shape, creating what's essentially notes and thoughts that will shape the final product. That also means relying on the feedback of you, you excellent readers, who have been an incredibly smart and supportive community that I continue to learn from. So thank you all for helping make this possible!