Another day in the paradise of Second Life and there was a message about the World Stock Exchange. Well one of the things I want to find out in Second Life is how economics could work in a world without government, so I teleported to the ATM, to create an account. Unfortunately I had misunderstood the instructions, so initially it didn't work.While I was thinking about what went wrong; I received an IM fro Giulio Perhaps; I teleported to Uvvy. I thought the Island was lost for transhumanism, but he showed me the new auditorium.

Well, it was awesome and I think better than it was. Giulio is in the process of organizing a seminar on transhumanism and religion, and now almost full-time occupied with SL development. Must be great to earn your daily bread in SL. Busy with his plans, he had to move on to work on his projects, leaving me the possibility to return to Friedman (Link works only with Second Life client) and to find out how I could create my WSE-account.The teleport simply hadn't brought me to the entrance of the venue: just round the corner was the building:






It was quite crowded inside and it looked like a real-life stock exchange building:





Now I made my second mistake: in a far corner of the hall I saw an ATM.




Despite the warning

IMPORTANT: This is the World Currency Exchange ATM and is not connected to OurBank or the World Stock Exchange. All funds in this machine are for the World Currency Exchange only.

I created an account and payed L$20 to the machine. Not very much, but the WCE speculates on (real) world currency exchange. As a rule for myself I never put money in something I don't understand, so after I found out about the misreading WCE for WSE, I became a little nervous. I took me some time to undo my payment. At last I found the WSE ATM. I had to wait for my turn - obviously I'm not the only one who is interested - but finally I succeeded in creating an account. So the next few weeks I'll be an active participant of the Second Life Stock Market.

As written before: I was up to something new in Second Life. Since the last entry in my journal I logged in regularly (twice a week), but I almost never found what I was looking for. So I took some snapshots and left. The only thing that gave me some pleasure was the gnome I bought

.

Where? I'm not sure, but it was in a little shop in the neigbourhood of the Black Sun. This gnome tracks all my avators that show up in a circle of 50 square meters of my house. Interesting? Not at all, but the daily list of names in my mailbox is a reminder of my Second Life. Everything changes; The Black Sun is changing rapidly into a sort of conference centre



and two weeks ago I spoke to Giulio Perhaps about his plans with Uvvy Island. He told me that in a few weeks I wouldn't recognize the place at all.



And he was right: tonight I visited the Island, but no traces of the centre of Transhumanism were left. What next? A notification about pi day (3/14; also Albert Einstein's birthday) popped up in my screen when I logged in. So I visited the science museum at Spoland. It was dedicated to the number Pi. What is Pi? It is that strange number, represented by the Greek character:

You learned in school that Pi was 3,14? Wrong!



Why bother about Pi? I don't know, it has something to do with circles:



Finally I took a ride in the dome.



That was cool!

This week Los Angeles Times had a story about Second Life, written by Dan Neil, who lived in the Metaverse for one week.

Of course he visited the wrong places:

I can't even begin to hint at the polymorphous perversity available in Second Life, but the most popular place, at the moment I check, is Naughty Neva's Free Sex Orgy Room, where virtual sex workers pole-dance and lure customers into back rooms.

If that is what you're looking for, I agree it is better in First Life. And I doubt it will ever be better in the Metaverse - I think we don't need sex in the metaverse.

If you had the drive and the imagination—not to mention the absurd amount of free time—to create a business or design a product, why wouldn't you do it in real space? If you could find friends and brainstorm good ideas and fuel a love affair, why wouldn't you do it in the here and now? Come back from Second Life, people. First Life needs you.

Hm. I admit I have my doubts about Second Life. It is not as exciting yet as I thought it would be. But I still think (or hope) it can be great, someday. Just a matter of time.

After an exciting time with new developments in Second Life, there now is a time of boredom in 2L. No new experiences at all. Revisiting The Black Sun, there is a large protected area around the castle, so I could not enter. Maybe the time zone differences play a part in it, but I never see anyone at the Black Sun club. Uvvy Island is also empty most of the time. I missed Anders Sandberg's lecture "Keep raging against aging", but currently there seems to be no follow-up plans. Seems that Second Life is beyond the hype. That is, of course, why Linden released the clients source code under the GPL free software license at 8 january.

Looking for another virtual world? DotSoul isn't half as beautiful and even more deserted. The new virtual world, Multiverse, is still in Beta version.

So, I went to Black Sun and followed the road until I came at the end of the land that is obviously property of IntLibb Brautigan.



Well, that was it! So I flew back and followed a road not taken before. There I found this place; it looked like a dumping ground:



Okay, again back to the place I know so well, Black Sun. There, next to the Pearly Gates church (I presume) I found a Billboard with an ad for the Nangrim Plaza Mall. So I chose "teleport and there I was.



Interesting. But again: no-one there and the shops were closed. What next? Dublin? Why not. Today even Dublin was completely deserted. I strolled through Grafton Street and there I stumbled upon an empty guitar case and a Busker's row, before the music store of Elmo Balderdash. Busking is playing music on the street for tips. Tips? Money? L$$? So I right-clicked the mat and chose "Busker".



Hm. not bad. However, no audience, no tips. So, even this could not satisfy me for longer than 20 seconds. So, back to the real world.

Yes, I am reading "Snowcrash" again and it appeared to me that it is not a luxury: I can recall almost nothing of the book. It is great to see that the Black Sun community is preparing a Snowcrash RPG and some of the members are writing objects, like the "Safe" I bought earlier this week for L$ 150



and the animated combat Katana (both used by Hiro Protgonist in his combat with businessman in The Black Sun Club) by Abramelin Wolfe for L$ 850! This was the biggest investment I ever made in 2L, my home was only L$500 and my plot of land L$ 512! Why bother? Here you see me practising with my katana



I never thought I would be interested to play combat games.

Still visiting Uvvy Island now and then, but I almost never see there anybody. This week however I met Manoj Undercity (RL name V.R.Manoj), who is a member of the board of the WTA-SL. He designed the new website for the transhumanist movement.

I talked to him briefly, and he showed me the room where the board meets once a week.

Just a short visit to the Black Sun Tower. I got this wonderful Black Sun T-shirt. Usually not much interested in clothes, I feel proud of my T-shirt, so I decided to wear it and to visit The Black Sun.



Who else would I meet there? Of course, IntLibb, who was also wearing his T-shirt. And told me that MetaBank had opened their first branch in Margritte. I visit the building, next to the pizzeria.



to check my account. And noticed another building, opposite from the pizzeria that just was standing there inviting me to come in (and buy some products). And inside I discovered that monument for Neil Stephenson:



Great! It's a shame that there are also people who are just trying to destroy the Metaverse with the cyber-equivalent of Grey Goo, the self-replicating nanoscale robots that eats everything on earth to feed themselves. Grey Goo is also described by - among others - Stephenson in his novel The Diamond Age. You can see Grey Goo at work in this short movie, posted by OneUp Thiebaud to the metaverse mailinglist.

Today I became a Black Sun Nightclub VIP. I visited the place very often during the last weeks and there is always something new. A week ago I flew around there in the evening and I saw IntLibb Brautigan (RL name Mike Lorrey) working on the roof of his brewery.



He invited me in and what I saw was amazing. IntLibb works very hard and always makes new plans. So here is a bit of our conversation:

[10:37] IntLibber Brautigan: the kegs on the wall are vending machines

[10:37] Me: It is beautifully designed

[10:37] IntLibber Brautigan: they dispense beer bottls for 1L each

[10:38] IntLibber Brautigan: the bottles have lives of 45 minutes

[10:38] IntLibber Brautigan: so, you pay the keg a linden, it gives you the bottle, you wear it and it animates you

[10:38] Stone Ruination IPA: A Liquid Poem to the Glory of Hops!

[10:39] IntLibber Brautigan: we are going to be selling the kegs to other bars in SL

[10:39] IntLibber Brautigan: so they become a profit center

[10:39] IntLibber Brautigan: while eliminating the problem of empties

[10:39] IntLibber Brautigan: and makes it a consumable product

[10:39] Me: That sounds strange in VR

[10:40] Me: I mean the word "consumable"

[10:40] IntLibber Brautigan: yes, but its essential to making a real economy here

[10:40] IntLibber Brautigan: if everybody has everything they ever need permanently in their inventory, then the economy will never grow significantly

[10:40] Me: Yes, just like IRL

[10:40] IntLibber Brautigan: the US economy over the 20th century grew due to consumer spending to a greater extent than industrial development

[10:41] IntLibber Brautigan: so we are replicating that here

[10:41] IntLibber Brautigan: giving people something that they can relate to in RL

[10:41] Me: I wonder: how does it feel to drink from that bottle

[10:42] IntLibber Brautigan: don't know yet, we haven't got taste technology yet

[10:42] IntLibber Brautigan: but this is the beginning

[10:42] IntLibber Brautigan: people will want more of the experience

[10:42] Me: For me it still feels like I'm a spectator in SL but interested in what it will be one day

[10:42] IntLibber Brautigan: ah, well, I've been getting immersed

[10:42] IntLibber Brautigan: building this community

[10:42] IntLibber Brautigan: creating a viable business, several infact

[10:43] IntLibber Brautigan: so it becomes more 'real' with time

After this talk he showed me the pizzeria



The pic on the wall in the background is Don Corleone. The whole Black Sun project is inspired by the book "Snowcrash" by Neil Stephenson. (In fact, Second Life is built on this novel by Stephenson, who also coined the word "Metaverse"). Don Corelone represents here Uncle Enzo of the "Cosa Nostra Pizza Corp".



Yes, IntLibb has to find a more original picture, but for now it works.

Today I returned to Margritte. Fortunately I was there alone, so I could explore the black sun on my own. Firts of all, as I mentioned above, I decided to become a member. Then I did something I hate IRL, I relaxed on a towel at the beach:



After that I did something else I never do in First Life: I went to the disco and danced to the music. Why not? - no-one could see me. That was great!



While I watched my avater moving and dancing to the music and thought: "why can't I do this with real people around me?" Now there was a problem: I couldn't stop! Help! Clicking again on the dancing machine didn't work, so I had to log out and log in again to get rid of this script. Okay, now back to the ballroom. Nothing happened, the dancing machine invited me to chose one of the 20 dancing scripts but I went upstairs to view the place from a higher viewpoint. It was splendid.



I definitely have to reread Snowcrash!

Visited 2L a few times this week.

First I was at Dublin, at a Halloween party:



Next day I visited the Black Sun Tower. At the beach I saw a slide. Wow, why not becoming a virtual kid for a while? Who cares - it's only second life!





LOLSITW (Laughing Out Loud Splashing In The Water)

Okay, now for the more scientific person that I want to be. I tried to attend the meeting at Uvvy Island with the lecture by Waldemar Ingdahl, director of Eudoxa. Unfortunately, they don't work with the Vivox-client anymore, but with the Winamp-Shoutcast plug-in. Didn't work with my computer, so I've been there, but heard nothing.



More successful was my attempt to open an account at the MetaBank. It was not difficult at all, but I am just curious what will happen with my money. After all, one of my purposes for signing up with Second Life was to investigate how things in VL differ from RL.



Finally I revisited the Black Sun Tower today. Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend the opening night at november, 4th. So, I wanted to take a look there again. The last time I teleported myself to the spot I found myself in a beautiful castle-like building. It was opposite from the Black Sun Tower. This time I noticed it was slightly modified.



As you see, nothing worth mentioning . So to conclude this entry I grabbed some news from other websites, mostly Reuters:

• Thriller Dance party in 2L: Nice video!


• Giving a Power Point presentation in 2L: probably different from the Communal Whiteboard system mentioned before.


• Virtual reality TV: Big Brother to launch in SL: I've never watched the RL-version on Dutch TV, because of my good taste, but now I think I'll have to change my mind.

Even the usual upgrading becomes a natural part of my life. Today I had to upgrade to version 1.12.2; I can never start a fresh day in 2L without having to upgrade.

Today I wanted to visit some new places I read about in the metaverse mailinglist. The first was Meta Bank. A building at Nangrim.



Just like a real bank it was closed when I wanted to open an account .



I was eager to learn how Second Life economics work. And I'm not the only one: also the American IRS is investigating if it is possible to tax virtual communities. I was already wondering why it took so long before politicians started thinking about milking the cow. And speaking of news: there is also a real news office of Reuters in 2L! You can see on his calender when Adam Reuters has his office hours in Second Life.

Finally I was looking for some fun. So I visited The Edge, a club that was recommended by another person on the metaverse-mailinglist.



Nice, but not my idea of "fun". So I teleported home asap and that was another day in 2L.

There are days IRL when you feel like the ultimate Samuel Pepys: "Up at seven and so to bed". In 2L you experience the similar when you log in and log out, without talking to anybody or seeing anything worth mentioning. I have to admit that this is what happens regularly. Today however was full of interesting experiences, so I need two entries. I posted already on the Meta Bank, The Edge and the Reuters news agency, but there was one thing left on my wish list: the Black Sun Tower sim. The Black Sun Tower is a building mentioned in "Snowcrash", the novel with so many ideas at the cradle of Second Life.

The Black Sun Tower, although not entirely finished yet, is built by IntLibber Brautigan (RL name: Mike Lorrey). You can see the building here





Both pictures are taken from the sky.

I met IntLibber there and he invited me in his penthouse. I sat down and talked to him about his plans and ideas about 2L.



IntLibber is an extropian, but he is also a libertarian (in fact, although it is not any longer in the extropian principles, extropianism is a brand of transhumanism with a more or less libertarian stance). So there wasn't much to discuss, we agreed on everything. But I learned a lot of him, because he is also working in-world (i.e. in 2L).

The Black Sun Tower will not only be there for fun, but also for profit. The Beachside of the club will be for business, conferences and also for promoting extropian ideas.



The second to fourth floor will be leased to people for business purposes, while the top floor will be for his own architecture firm.

That brought me on the subject of taxes, also mentioned earlier today. IntLibber's point of view was: "If congress could tax Monopoly Game money, they would". Couldn't say it better. While complaining about taxes is not very productive, IntLibber is a member of the 1st SL Militia, a new and small group ready to defend SL against federal invasion. We had a short discussion about how legal it was for the IRS to tax Linden $, but it is my experience that government always will find a way to bend the law in the direction necessary for legalizing whatever they're up to.

Yesterday I had to upgrade the Second Life-client again, today it was impossible to login because it was closed for maintenance. So I decided to try something else....why not DotSoul? I can't say that I was impressed by their website, but I installed the Active Worlds-like browser and logged in as guest. Because it is free I tried to register. The website promised that I should find Light, whoever that may be, if I had good karma. Karma? Yes, that's the word! Unfortunately she was nowhere, no karma I think. I walked through the park and talked to SoulTech. He answered my questions, but that was it. So it was difficult for me to feel at home. And, like a RL-tourist, I took some pictures.





Well, that was it. Dont know if I will come back there.