Back on Ocotber 23rd Hamlet Au posted over on New World Notes : High Fidelity v. Interstellar: Should Virtual Reality Exploration Replace Space Travel as Philip Rosedale Hopes? The post was based largely on this passage from an excellent MIT Technology reviwew with Philip Rosedale :

“Why go into outer space when it’s more likely that by amassing computing resources we will create all the mysteries and unknowns and new species inside them?” he says. Rosedale says the freedom to explore and experiment inside a virtual world generates a “social force,” creating positive interactions between people that are impossible in everyday life–much like the Burning Man festival he attends each year. It’s a vision that betrays a touching if naïve faith in humans and technology. But it’s set Rosedale on a shared course with some of the biggest names in technology.

The comments on Hamlet’s article generated a mixed reaction. However Philip Rosedale is not alone with this sort of view. The Pendulum have published an article : Astronomy and virtual reality in same orbit for professor Tony Crider. The article states :

With improvements to the Oculus Rift, Crider would be able to let students see what it is like on Venus instead of just reading about it.

“Going to the places that we can’t normally go to is what makes this technology have a lot of potential,” Crider said. “I think that is what a virtual world should be used for. I used to think it was more for the socialization, but my view has changed a lot.”

Professor Tony Crider is of course talking about the future of virtual worlds, but he’s no stranger to the present and fairly recent past of virtual worlds and he’s very much a virtual world enthusiast.

Professor Crider is described in the article as being an associate professor of physics at Elon University since 2006. He knows a lot about Second Life as he’s a co-founder of the excellent archipelago of sims in Second Life known as the Scilands. These sims are home to some excellent science sims which are well worth a visit. However Elon University itself no longer seems to have a sim in Second Life. However Professor Crider did find value in the use of Second Life, as the article explains :

Through Second Life, Crider’s students made real-life museum exhibits virtual. Most of the exhibits were planetariums, although places such as the International Civil Rights Center and Museum in Greensboro were also created. Open to all Second Life users, the student-created exhibits turned out to be a success, even attracting online users not associated with the class.

“They would build the places, and people would show up afterwards,” Crider said. “What was weird was people would stand in lines at these student-run planetariums with their avatars. But users were at these exhibits, because people online liked the experience of learning.”

The students’ reactions working with Second Life were generally positive, although some mixed reviews did seep through.

Continue reading “Outer Space To Virtual Space & Visiting Scilands”