[MD] Inorganic, organic, social, intellectual,.... virtual

[Peter Corteen]

A short while ago Krimel posted about an experiment designed to induce an
out of body experience where subjects get to see themselves from outside
(behind) themselves; coincidentally, I read some articles recently about
Second Life ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life) and decided to give
it a try.

Second Life takes you into a virtual world where you can make things,
teleport and network socially - you do this through your avatar
(incarnation) and it induces a similar experience described in Krimel's
experiment. I read that this amasing software was partly developed by a team
of Asperger's sufferers and has gained favour as an empowering tool for
people with disabilities.

In Second Life you have a body, avatar, but the biological restraints of
eating, sleeping, relieving etc are removed. This world came out of
Intellect but to exist there, one quickly learns, depends on conducive
social interaction. It mirrors the 'real' world and then some. I asked
others there where they are from in real life and how old they are etc; one
long term user told me that who you are in real life does not matter and we
began a discussion about who is my self.

I had heard of such virtual worlds before and had a dim view; I told some
family and friends about it and could sense their uncertainty when they
advised caution; since using the program over the last 10 or so days I have
found myself walking down the real streets of my local town with a smile on
my face. Sad or what?

Anyone else here tried it?

Regards

-Peter