Second Life

This shows how much of an internet junkie I have become. Has anybody heard of the website Second Life? (www.secondlife.com) If you have not then you are probably missing the singularly most influential cultural phenomenon of the moment. It is a virtual world that literally millions of people are building within the web itself. Indeed in the last 60 days 1,594,592 people have created an 'avatar' in this virtual-world and are living out a literal 'second-life'. People are building houses and opening up businesses - real businesses that are making money. This world even has its own currency - The Linden. You can walk (or fly) anywhere you want and the people you see are real people sitting in front of their computer - some on the other side of the world. You interact as you would in the real world. You can talk, swop things etc. I joined it a few months back but only went back on the day before yesterday. I know that one of our group (Robin) is a member because we met in SL (as it is known). Now that more and more of my 'Real World' friends are on SL I have started to log on again. Now for those of you interested one 'resident' is building a replica of Liverpool city centre. This is so like the real thing as to be weird. But what has just blown me away is that this morning a friend emailed me and said that I should 'teleport' myself on SL to an Irish Bar called Flanagan's Apple in this virtual Liverpool. I did so and up on the wall is a poster of showing my book cover. How wild is that!!!
I have just received a communication from the bar 'owner' and she says that I can use this bar for virtual, on-line real-time meetings. I plan to set up a Group and see what happens. It would be great if some of you joined me. SL is totally free - all you will lose is your time. Just check out the site and see what you think.
What is particularly interesting about all this is it is so Gnostic in its implications. It is a clear example of how reality can be seen as an elaborate illusion. Wander about in SL for a few hours - chat to people and make friends and believe me its starts to feel very very real. Pure Philip K Dick!!