Moving from Exploring Outer Space to Inner Space Potentiality
With the penetration of Outer Space a reality, writers of the 1960s and 1970s turned to the possibilities of exploring Inner Space, focusing on psychological and spiritual scenarios to seduce us into other worlds. This brand of intellectual, metaphysical science fiction plotlines made all things seem possible.
It was an era of staving off aging with meditation, thinking thin with self-hypnosis and achieving prosperity by drawing pictures in your mind. Hypnotists made big money claiming they could change your habits and self-help book sales soared.
However, documented stories of achievements possible through the untapped powers of the human mind did little to alleviate the immediate constraints placed upon adolescents undergoing chemotherapy or war victims missing arms and legs. Visuals play such an important part in communication. It is difficult to get past the ravages of illness or the deformities resulting from violence. It is hard to transcend physical limitations of appearance to reveal the inherent beauty of the soul.
Today, I see the technological science fiction merging with the intellectual, metaphysical science fiction to create a world where we can indeed create our own reality. In massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), like the popular Second Life, I can "Explore an ever-changing 3D landscape. Meet new and exciting people. Create a masterpiece - or an empire," Linden Labs homepage promises me.
I choose my size, shape, sex and the color of my skin. There are sliders to adjust the length of my nose, the cleft of my chin, the spacing between my eyes and a myriad of other details. I can be young or old, thin or fat, or black or white. I can even be green or blue, a monster, an alien, a bunny rabbit or a cartoon character.
How will identity and personality be challenged by these new possibilities to leave the body? How will the relationship between the real and the virtual and between body and mind, be affected by immersion into Virtual Environments? Do some environments encourage escape from the physical world more than others?
It was an era of staving off aging with meditation, thinking thin with self-hypnosis and achieving prosperity by drawing pictures in your mind. Hypnotists made big money claiming they could change your habits and self-help book sales soared.
However, documented stories of achievements possible through the untapped powers of the human mind did little to alleviate the immediate constraints placed upon adolescents undergoing chemotherapy or war victims missing arms and legs. Visuals play such an important part in communication. It is difficult to get past the ravages of illness or the deformities resulting from violence. It is hard to transcend physical limitations of appearance to reveal the inherent beauty of the soul.
Today, I see the technological science fiction merging with the intellectual, metaphysical science fiction to create a world where we can indeed create our own reality. In massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), like the popular Second Life, I can "Explore an ever-changing 3D landscape. Meet new and exciting people. Create a masterpiece - or an empire," Linden Labs homepage promises me.
I choose my size, shape, sex and the color of my skin. There are sliders to adjust the length of my nose, the cleft of my chin, the spacing between my eyes and a myriad of other details. I can be young or old, thin or fat, or black or white. I can even be green or blue, a monster, an alien, a bunny rabbit or a cartoon character.
How will identity and personality be challenged by these new possibilities to leave the body? How will the relationship between the real and the virtual and between body and mind, be affected by immersion into Virtual Environments? Do some environments encourage escape from the physical world more than others?
Labels: communication, Linden Lab, MMOGs, MMORPGs, science fiction, Second Life
posted by Terra Lucero | 2:52 PM
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