Transumanar

Second Life growing up

There are two *great* news about Second Life. One is that Second Life developer Electric Sheep Company received a new $7 million round of financing. The other is that Linden Lab said on Tuesday it will launch integrated voice capabilities.

In a radio interview on Monday the interviewer mentioned the ongoing commercialization and professionalization of Second Life and asked my opinion on the inevitable negative comments that have been raised. I answered by recalling the similar debates on the web of the early nineties. Many people wanted to “protect” the pristine beauty and baby innocence of their favorite toy from commercial interests and used to say that business would kill the internet. But what happened, on the contrary, was that business interests provided the money that fueled the technical growth of the web, drove prices for consumers down, and enabled most people in the Western world to afford, access and enjoy the web. I see no reasons why the same should not happen for the metaverse.

I must say that I tend to keep away from those elitist ivory tower intellectuals who think they know what the “little people” want, or need, better than the people themselves. 15 years later, we know that the people have voted for Google, MySpace, YouTube, BitTorrent, music and movie downloads (legal or not), simple and fast flight and hotel reservations, etc. Similarly, the people will choose what they want in the metaverse. So I say Welcome to Big Business in Second Life if their money can help provide a varied, robust and interesting metaverse for the people. I want to see *more* business and marketing in Second Life if it can help creating a sustainable content development industry able to create compelling quality content that all users can enjoy.

It was also predictable that the announcement of the forthcoming integrated voice capability in Second Life would trigger a wave of outrage among some residents. There has always been some tension between those who see Second Life as a means to escape reality and those who see Second Life as an extension of their life in brickspace. In the first category there are many people who choose to be a completely different and separate person: men posing as women, old posing as young, sometimes women posing as men and young posing as old, “furries” etc. They are afraid that voice would give them away. I belong to the second category of users (in Second Life I am me posing as myself), but understand the concerns of the others. I do not think this is a really big issue because the two categories are already separated: they do not do the same things or go to the same places in Second Life. With the growth of the metaverse, there will be plenty of places to go for both categories of users, and members of each will be able to live *their* SL in *their* part of the metaverse.

But I will never understand those who think that since they do not want to do something then nobody should be free to do it. In Second Life, those who do not want to use voice will be free not to use voice and go to places where nobody uses voice. This should be enough for them - they should not try to force their choice on the rest of us. Having a wide range of options to choose from is, I think, always a good thing. Those who cannot tolerate the lifestyle of others should, perhaps, learn to live and let live.

Posted by G.P. on 02/28 at 03:22 PM
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Transhumanism, young whores and old bigots

In a letter to Max Born (source), Albert Einstein quoted ”the beautiful proverb: Junge Huren - alte Betschwestern (young whores - old bigots)”.

We have seen it happen so many times: once upon a time there was a wild teenager, sometimes naive but full of creativity and enthusiasm. Then (s)he has to learn some hard lessons, like that you are supposed to show at work at 8am in a formal suit. And then (s)he falls in the dullest mediocrity, forgets all wild and creative ideas of the past, and begins wearing formal suits even on Sunday mornings. (S)he may even, and this is really sad when it happens, become a boring, self-righteous, pompous and intolerant old bigot who hates teenagers for still having the aliveness that (s)he has lost.

Most wild teenagers avoid this trap, but some don’t. And I am sometimes afraid that transhumanism, once a wild and frighteningly brilliant teenager, may become a hopelessly dull old bigot.

A few years ago I used to say that the transhumanist movement had to grow up from its “nerdy sci-fi roots” and become an influential voice in the mainstream world. The metaphor I used was the same I am using now, a wild teenager who grows up and goes to business meetings in a formal suit. I also used to say that the transhumanist movement should not focus only on nerdy sci-fi stuff like immortality, conscious AI, brain implants and mind uploading, but also on the problems of today’s world and the attempts to find viable solutions. I still say and believe it: we should be part of progressive mainstream thinking, wear formal suits if it helps, and even get our hands greasy with the messy details of practical policy making and politics.

But, and this should go without saying, without giving up the core elements of our worldview. We, or at least most of us, *are* sci-fi nerds. I am certainly one. I believe that developing and deploying advanced technologies for human enhancement, without self-imposed a-priori artificial “ethical” limits, will make the world a better place and improve the quality of life and happiness of everyone on this planet and beyond. Which is, I believe, the only things that really matters. Of course I am not at all against practical ethical considerations related to the quality of life and happiness of actual, concrete persons, but I am very much against abstract “ethics” -what god does or does not want, absolute truths, objective morality, undefined notions of human dignity, if it is moral for flying donkeys to discuss number theory with crystal pigs, and all that.

A few years ago we founded the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies as “a mainstream transhumanist think-tank in a formal suit”. Then we stopped using the T label, which was felt as too limiting, and invited non-transhumanist thinkers to join the IEET. Under the executive leadership of James Hughes, the IEET has carved itself a niche as a left-wing, transhumanist-friendly technoprogressive think tank. This is an important role that will, I hope, result in radically technoprogressive ideas of human enhancement becoming more and more accepted in mainstream policy.

Why am I writing this? Because I hear proposals to water down transhumanism to the point of becoming unrecognizable. And I am not referring to the predictable broken-disk anti-transhumanist rants of well known bioluddites, but to ideas put forward by people close to transhumanism and even by declared transhumanists. They seem ashamed of radical transhumanist ideas and mainly wishing to sound reasonable, “ethical” and politically correct to win the approval of the anti-progress bioluddites out there. Pleeease! Give me more of the old nerdy sci-fi stuff anytime.

To be clear: I am a left technoprogressive and very concerned with the problems of today’s world. But when I want to say or do something in support of food and clean water for everyone, affordable health care, education for all children, reduction of the digital divide, BIG, reduction of the North-South gap, world peace, civil rights, etc., I do so in other contexts, activist movements or political parties. Who is concerned about, for example, the environment, should join an environmental movement or a green party and *do* something, instead of trying to transform transhumanism into an environmental movement.

I see technoprogressivism and transhumanism as two complementary spheres of thought, with little overlap, and both are core elements of my worldview. Technoprogressivism is about how technical advances can and should improve the lives of as many persons as possible, here and now. Transhumanism is about leaving free rein to one’s imagination and looking forward to technical advances that may, and should, improve the lives of as many persons as possible in much more radical ways, tomorrow and perhaps elsewhere. I became a transhumanist many years ago mainly because transhumanism gave me a sense of wonder, a sense of meaning of life, a vision of our place in the universe, peace and happiness. I do not see any conflict or incompatibility between the two Ts, and want transhumanism to remain transhumanism. Perhaps even with some kind of “return to the origins” and some more sci-fi nerdiness to correct what I am beginning to perceive as the political correctness of old bigots.

Posted by G.P. on 02/24 at 01:45 PM
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Real Second Life

My Second Life business is beginning to pick up some speed -I have a few paying clients in Europe, this would have sounded like science fiction a few months ago- and I find myself spending more an more time in virtual reality. I remember the beginnings of the Web in the early 90s, this gives me the same impression. When I meet potential clients I use to say that Second Life, and the overall metaverse concept and early implementations, are killer apps because they combine the best of the internet (doing things remotely) with the best of real life (person to person contact).

This was said very well by Philip Rosedale in a New York Times intervew titled An Experiment in Virtual Living: The history of technology has, in the past 50 years, been to increasingly isolate us. We’ve gone from watching movies in a movie theater, to watching them as a family at home, to watching them alone on our iPod. But actually I think there’s a next wave of technology, of which Second Life is certainly a great example, where we are bringing people back together again into the same place to have these experiences. The thing about Second Life that is so fascinating and different is not just that it’s 3-D. There are always people to share that experience with, or to ask for help. Or to laugh at something with. And that experience is an innately human one that technology has deprived us of. I think many people use Second Life to have more friends, and more human contact, than they do in the real world… you have to bear in mind that in just a few years, this is gonna look like walking into a movie screen. And that’s just gonna be such an amazing thing.

En passant, see also the article How I Did It: Philip Rosedale, CEO, Linden Lab on Inc. Magazine.

Rosedale is persuaded that in a few years metaverse technology will permit virtual experiences as good as physical reality for business meetings, lectures, job interviews etc. I am also persuaded of this and think the end-point, that will be achieved in perhaps 15 or 20 years, is very clear: virtual experiences completely indistinguishable from real experiences via direct stimulation of the brain. In an interview with Myriades 1 (in Spanish) titled Second Life: realidad virtual en Internet I said: This technology will permit reproducing, with high fidelity, all sensorial information that reaches the brain. This will be a “real virtuality”, as real as the physical universe itself. This is, I think, an easy prediction to make (longer term predictions tend to be the easiest).

It is more difficult to predict what will happen in the next few years. I think the main obstacle to completely suspending disbelief and considering Second Life as sufficiently real and good enough for business and entertainment is the lack of voice communication and non verbal language. Voice communication will be certainly integrated in one or another fork of the Second Life client before the end of the year. Non verbal language is more difficult to implement: at this moment avatars can laugh or wink by pressing buttons and typing commands, but it is still an involved process. We need a natural and easy way to reproduce face expressions, body language and non verbal cues.

It is easy to imagine how a webcam feed can be pasted on an avatar’s face to reproduce face expressions in realtime. Smart software could also analyze a webcam feed to reproduce movement, walking, hand waving etc. In practice, at this moment it would be simpler using a webcam feed only for the face and a tracking system (gloves etc.) for hands and body. It is important to note that this technologies exist, but are not yet affordable by average mass market consumers. Prices will, however, go down very fast with increasing demand. 3D viewing systems with head tracking, which have also existed for years (e.g. http://www.trimersion.com/) and been used for high-end videogame systems, will also become affordable and commonplace.

These technologies can be integrated in Second Life by tweaking the open source client. So I believe the software will appear quickly (again, before the end of the year) and permit much more realistic Second Life experiences to advanced users with powerful equipment and time-money to spend for finding-buying VR gadgets. Waiting for the widespread availability of VR gear, perhaps Second Life “arcades”, “user clubs” or “cafes” would be a good and potentially profitable idea. For example, I would certainly be willing to spend a few euros on occasions for accessing Second Life via top level VR equipment: 3D immersive displays with head tracking, hand sensors, CAVE systems and spheres, walking surfaces or boots, etc. Going to a place in RL would be also a good way for SL aficionados to stay more in touch with RL.

Posted by G.P. on 02/24 at 07:40 AM
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Lifeboat Foundation

I have been invited to join the Lifeboat Foundation Advisory Boards, dedicated to helping humanity survive existential risks and possible misuse of increasingly powerful technologies, including genetic engineering, nanotechnology, and robotics/AI, as we move towards a technological singularity, with some of the best minds on the planet working on programs to enable our survival. I have been honored to join, as I believe Lifeboat’s work is important and I have many good friends on the Boards and in the Lifeboat support community. Here is my Lifeboat page.

Posted by G.P. on 02/12 at 07:49 AM
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SNOWCRASHING INTO THE DIAMOND AGE: AN ESSAY BY EXTROPIA DaSILVA

SNOWCRASHING INTO THE DIAMOND AGE: AN ESSAY BY EXTROPIA DaSILVA.

PART ONE: SL AND THE GRAY GOO PROBLEM.

By Extropia DaSilva - published with permission. Part Two will follow. I met Extropia today in Second Life and she gave me this essay. I have not read it yet because I am still immersed in a mind boggling VR conversation (as usual) with Extropia on Life, the Universe and Everything. I want to upload my mind to Second Life permanently is she also uploads there.

More...

Posted by G.P. on 02/04 at 04:14 PM
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