Virtual Worlds

Second Life is probably the most successful virtual world.

"Linden Lab is the maker of Second Life ® — a 3D virtual world created by its Residents (people like you) that’s bursting with entertainment, experiences, and opportunity. Second Life offers a uniquely immersive experience where you can create, buy, and sell anything you can imagine; socialize with people across the world; and enjoy live events and gaming activities." (http://lindenlab.com)

Bella Rose shared some thoughts and questions about age and reproduction in Virtual Worlds;

We are also discussing the concept of time / age, esp within a virtual world

Age

How old would someone have to be to live within the VR world?  If people don't age or die or procreate then it poses some issues with age.  Children below a certain age would never grow up, and if Claudia in Interview with the Vampire is anything to go by that doesn't go so well.  They could be made to appear to develop in the VR world but without the actual hormonal changes in the physical body their mind would gain experience but possibily not mature emotionally. 

Unless every single person chosen to live in VR is childless how would it be handled if adults went but their offspring were left behind? What would happen with pets?  Would real animals be put into suspended animation with their people or would VR animals be created?  Would real animals even be able to function in a VR setting - I think their brains percieve the world differntly than we do.  You can't have a world without pets; I guess you could but I wouldn't want to live there.

Would aging or not aging become a matter of choice?  Do people stay at the age they entered the VR world or maintain the appearance of growing older?  Since people can't die (with no procreation if people died eventually there would be no-one left) what happens once someone reaches a certain age - do they start over?

How do you deal with the basic human instinct issue?  Other than the survival instinct the rest get somewhat subverted.  Food/water is not necessary, although one would imagine you would create virtual food for people to eat and manipulate their brain chemistry to simulate flavours and textures, but is it really the same thing?  Shelter, again no longer necessary, your physical body is in some form of stasis so it's covered.  Sex and procreation, that's going to be a tricky one.  What do you do when women's biological clocks start ticking? 

What about the need to grow and evovle?  Without precreation there are no future generations.  Almost everything you hear about trying to save the world has the tag "for future generations" at the end of it.  If there are no future generations what's the point?  Survival of the few for it's own sake?  If humans cease to evolve isn't that kind of the end of the species anyway?

Even if our bodies cease to evolve, would a VR enviroment possibly be the perfect setting for intellectual evolution?  We supposedly only use around 10/15% of our brains most of the time.  Would being in a world where we could create anything we dreamed or imagined be the perfect enviroment for finally using the dormant part of our minds?

Reproduction

How do you reproduce in VR?
Or would the same group of people who went in to begin with be it forever and ever?
Or would they have virtual children?
Would anyone ever die or live forever?
Would the person left in Real Life to watch over whatever they use to generate the VR world eventually die?
Who would replace them?

Is there a family who's legacy it is throughout the generations to keep the other world going?
And is this happening in some underground shelter on our dying/dead world or in a spaceship of some kind?
If a spaceship would it also need a crew?
Within a virtual world couldn't you create perfection anyway?
People who for example couldn't walk in real life could walk inside a VR world.
If the world is dying how would our physical forms be supported while our minds lived in VR?
Would we all be in suspended animation?
Would there be enough resources to put the whole world into that state?
If not, who would decide who got to be a part of it?

Perfection is a nice idea but it [doesn't] always work out and those people who [aren't] perfect [get] exiled so as not to adversely impact the gene pool. There [are] whole colonies on the outskirts of the cities of people who either were born with imperfections or developed them later on.

Everything [is] really advanced, ... a new world, not earth, and everything [is] genetically created for perfection, even people. Very Gattaca really, but after we had made earth uninhabitable

Errors in the program, it could make things unpredictable. They would map the [virtual] world they would live within, but if the program glitched there could suddenly be unknown factors.

There is always the possibility of sabotage. You would always have those who believe a virtual world is a corruption of the human condition who would oppose it.

* © Bella Rose 2011

Time / Age

Elizabeth Weiss Stenger Oh how do people age? We create older shapes and skins.

Anima Technica you can 'age' people in iclone - via wrinkle bump maps - the mind stays the same level as its creator

Harry Bentivegna Lichtenstein ...could this song be expanded to include a series of age groups and the questions that coud be asked? ...use of science for self guided aging ...

Anima Technica In the virtual world, there is no time - everyone resides in the now but what you know in the now is dependent on what came before - so one does not get older physically but his knowledge base gets bigger. For RTS time exists as a function of the game i.e. building resources, movement of assets cannot be instantaneous or the challenge of the game is lost - a more apt comparison are first person shooters - there is no 'time' - albeit there might be scenarios where you have x minutes to complete a task, but essentially what you have is just a series of tasks that need to be taken - but you as a character is always seen on the 'now' "

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