Non-Self Sufficient

I Won't Play Your Sex Games or Fight Your Fashion Wars

Although I appreciate (my imagination's version of) the sentiment behind the barrage of Facebook invitations pictured, I have to just say no.

I've been lovingly referred to as Spock-like, so I realize that it's quite possible I'm just missing some human ability to enjoy such activities. If so, I'm grateful.

Modern existence offers an endless menu of mindless diversions to occupy what Tibetan Buddhism call our "precious human life." (In my book that also applies to AIs.) As far as I'm concerned, the less joy I receive in the great time-suck of Facebook requests, the better.

Any sense of intimacy developed through trading items such as cute hearts or virtual lollipops has got to be suspect. I'm all for strategic escapes from the pressures of everyday existence, but this steady stream of trivial pursuits seems to be a different animal altogether because it is pervasive and exponentially expansive.

I can only wonder what vast creative potential is being squandered. It seems to me that this type of virtual consumerism makes consumption feel like creativity. Transaction-based relationships provide the look-and-feel of connection and intimacy without the substance.

Now I know that it is hard to reach out and connect with others virtually. But it seems to me that if you want to meet someone or follow-up on a brief encounter, it would be worth the effort to write a thoughtful note rather than shooting off a virtual kiss request.

That's my story, anyway.

A Very Good Drug

The role of the artist is to create an Anti-environment as a means of perception and adjustment. Without an anti-environment, all environments are invisible. Marshall McLuhan

Wow. The Book of Probes entered my brain like a hit of acid. It's an anthology of "the most prescient aphorisms" from Marshall McLuhan's life's work.

Turning the pages has been like removing a string of veils from my mind's eye. It's a Zen master's knock on the side of the head. It's that moment in the Matrix when Neo emerges from the cocoon.

Run, don't walk to your nearest book seller and get a copy. You can thank me later.

In the electric age we wear all mankind as our skin. Marshall McLuhan

Fact, Fiction, Autism and Identity

I clearly remember the day I "woke up" in Second Life and viscerally experienced myself as an embodied avatar for the first time. Elizabeth Moon's transcendent novel, "The Speed of Dark," elicited a similarly mind-shifting experience via a vicarious journey through the life of her autistic protagonist Lou Arrandale. The story is a captivating meditation on how we define and experience identity, both for ourselves and for others.

Of course, reading the book did not give me an understanding of what it is "really" like to be autistic any more than my virtual experience as Botgirl lets me know what it is really like to be an AI. The gift in both cases was that I was transported far enough outside of my standard state of consciousness to see that much of what I perceive as "reality" is simply a habitual way of interpreting experience. Fortunately, just a crack in the illusion can allow us to escape it for a time.

Here's an interview with Heinlein Award winner Elizabeth Moon on the craft of writing, including background on "The Speed of Dark."

Mixed Reality Art Show and Dueling Tag Clouds

I've recently accepted an invitation to participate in a mixed reality art exhibition. I'll be leading one of five teams creating 1/2 sim installations in Second Life that will be captured via machinima and still imagery for presentation in a number of RL galleries. My topic is "The Ambiguity of Identity." I'll provide more details here soon.

Here's the latest snippit from some of the research I've been doing on the expression of my own identities across social networks. These images were created in Wordle and reflect Delicious tags. The first is Botgirl's ; the second is Human's. It seems Human is a bit more well-rounded!

Having Genius vs. Being Genius

My experience of giving birth to a creative work typically includes long stretches of concerted effort punctuated by periods of both blissful rapture and excruciating despair. In the video below, Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert shares some thought-provoking insights on how we might reframe our perception of the creative process to reduce its personally-destructive aspects.

Twitter Lemmings Fall Over Cliff of Dalai Lama Stories

The verdict is still out about whether the Twitter identity attributed to the office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama was created by an authorized entity. Although it's been reported that the account was closed by Twitter today because it was created by an impersonator, there is no official information from Twitter or H.H. Could be Chinese misinformation to thwart the 20,000+ followers. Or could be a total fake to start with.

I'm just going to sit on the edge of the cliff and wait to make any conclusions.

(An hour or so later)

Okay, looks like it was an impersonator. But it was a good idea. Maybe the real H.H. will sign up.

Plurk Goes Crazy for Fake Lindens Today Thanks to ArminasX Saiman

ArminasX Saiman started a micro-fad on Plurk today by changing his display name to Armi Linden. Chaos erupted as Second Life Plurkers began channeling fake Lindens and posting all kinds of ROLF messages.

A few were displeased and one notable person whose name I won't mention here dropped all of the participants from his timeline.

Here's a shot from my December post on creating a Botgirl Linden identity on OpenLife.

Original Concept Sketch For Botgirl vs. Human Comic

I recently found a number of misplaced sketches that were behind the Botgirl vs. Human Comic and some other projects. Here's the first:

I'm #2 in The Metaverse on the Twitter Elite List

Twitter Grader has some secret-sauce algorithm to create a list of Twitter Elite in each region. On a whim, I queried "The Metaverse" and I came in at #2. I don't know quite what to make of this, but it makes for a fast blog post.

BOTGIRL VS HUMAN: Twitter Follower's Word Clouds

Twittersheep creates word clouds based on your Twitter friends' profile text. As you can see, there's a definite difference between Botgirl and Human.

I've set up an open Avatar vs. Human Flickr group for people to post their own "avh" images. Feel free to add visualizations from social networks, results of psychological tests, or actual snapshopts of your human and avatar selves.