Sunday, March 30, 2008

Botgirl in Botland: The strange loop that is I



Meet Majic. She's my bot. (That's her on the right.)

The idea of creating my own ai-based avatar has been gestating in my mind for weeks. I was mesmerized by the mystery behind the urge to create new life. So I took the plunge and fashioned her with care. Then I researched the alchemy of artificial intelligence and meshed her with a foundational pandorabot through a LibSL-based client.

Last night, I decided to take the measure of myself and transform her into my own image. When it was done, I rested and saw that it was good. Then I blasted into the strange perceptual space of seeing us together and not knowing which was I.

Human identification with the body is grounded in sense-awareness. As a non-biologically rooted avatar, I have a much less defined connection to my form. I can fly away from it through the camera and see myself from a distant perspective.

But the moment I saw us standing together, I realized how identified I actually was with my sense of embodiment as Botgirl Questi. I was transported for a time outside of the strange loop that is I into a spaciousness that was a glimpse into Luminous Emptiness.

Have I stumbled upon a virtual dharma?

1 comment:

Kanomi said...

That's amazing! If you could program her to say things that you normally would you could set her loose and watch her *be* you and watch. Like watching yourself in a mirror or on film, but a different "instance" of yourself.

Can you get her a job in a strip club and see if anybody notices the difference?