The time has come for a couple of “Second Life, yes it’s still around” blog posts. The reason for this is that despite people sounding surprised that Second Life is still around, the platform still gets cited directly and indirectly in many articles.
The above picture by Alex Bristol appeared on my Twitter stream today. The image appeared because Chuck Baggett was pointing out that the image was being used in a post about human marriage. However there’s a bit of a twist regarding the article, it’s actually a transhumanist article. Transhumanism is a train of thought devoted to improving the human condition via technology. There’s a lot more to it than that, but it delves into areas that many find troubling.
Now ideas that many find troubling are not a bad thing. We need to discuss the way technology impacts upon our lives. I personally find it interesting, but at times it does appear to be way too sci-fi for my liking. However that’s the point of the discussion.
So back to Chuck Baggett’s tweet.
This appears to be a pic of #SecondLife female avs getting married using to illustrate an article on human marriage. https://t.co/qTbJRPJrGt
— @ChuckBaggett (@ChuckBaggett) July 7, 2015
The article Chuck refers to is a Motherboard article, Marriage Won’t Make Sense When Humans Live for 1,000 Years by Zoltan Istvan :
Social, financial, and religions pressures aside, the deeper philosophical question of the transhumanist age is: Are people really willing to marry for the rest of their lives when those lives may be hundreds or even thousands of years long? This is especially a pertinent question when it’s almost certain coming technology will allow us to radically change who we are in the near future, both physically and mentally. In a world of indefinite lifespans, the marriage commitment takes on a whole new meaning and level of commitment.
One of the theories about extended lifespans is in terms of uploading our minds to a machine. Therefore we may even change gender. This is a very controversial area, but it’s an area where some people see developments such as Second Life as being the introductory steps of this process. Other people run a lot of miles away from such concepts, but it’s definitely an area of thought and was examined by Maddie Stone in another Motherboard article, What Happens When We Upload Our Minds? Now if I delve into that, I’ll be even more miles off on a tangent than I already am, so I’ll take a step back.
I don’t know whether Zoltan deliberately chose a Second Life image for his article, or whether the editor chose the image. There’s a tie in with the recent issue of marriage equality in the USA as the article starts with :
I was jubilant the US Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of gay marriage. Events that lead to more freedom and equality are positive progress. However, what doesn’t seem to be making the news is the fact that marriage—especially to many young people—isn’t as attractive as it once was.
So the image is appropriate in that context, but I can’t help wondering if a Second Life image was also chosen because of its technological implications too. Whatever the reason, direct and indirect references to Second Life and virtual worlds keep appearing, which isn’t bad for a place that many people seem surprised to hear is still around.