Second Life, Second Thought?
http://secondlife.com/
I see the concept is neat, yet scary at the same time. As technology advances, a virtual world can be very real with many sociological and psychological effects and impacts on what we believe and how we behave, or collectively speaking, our core values in the real one. I don't necessarily suggest it is, or will always be a bad influence. Good or not, we each will have to make a judgment. The 2nd Life seems like a video game, possibly lasting a life time, in which you make your own character and personality. Sort of you produce your own version of Truman Show. I am not sure when one has a 2nd Life, how that is going to impact the one's and the rest of our 1st lives.
http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2008/ts_040208.html
There is a Microsoft’s version of this called Roundtable. No doubt has virtualization come to our lives. It makes the physical distance insignificant and brings people altogether in a virtual environment. Like email and many other technologies, virtualization is supposedly bringing us closer. Well it actually does in many ways. At the same time, personally I also feel people are never farther before and it seems we have somehow become more than ever isolated and polarized.
