Real Life - Virtual Life
Saturday, September 9, 2006There are some interesting things happening in the virtual world Second Life. A real world T-Shirt shop opened a virtual version and now a politician seems to be getting in on the act too. If you've read the science fiction of Greg Egan or Greg Bear you might be reminded of their notion that future life will all be virtual and we will inhabit physical avatars to enter the real (physical) world.
If you think about it, our physical bodies really are an inefficient vehicle for our mind:
- They can only be in one place at one time
- They consume resources and produce waste
- They need constant enviromental conditions to survive (specific oxygen mix, radiation levels)
- They are bulky
- They have limited processor and memory capacity
- They have limited sensory and communication abilities
- They require constant care
- They are vulnerable to damage
If you were totally virtual:
- You could move at the speed of light
- Create whatever virtual worlds you desire
- Have as much processor and memory capacity as you required
- Require almost no resources to stay alive
- Make copies/backups of yourself
- Create physical avatars and inhabit them to move into any physical environment you like with whatever sensory abilities you might need
- Create physical avatars of any size, even microscopic
Cool stuff.... I highly recommend " Schild's Ladder ".
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