Thursday, October 7, 2010
Second Life and Romanticism
This blog is in response to Andrew's blog.
Second Life could easily be renamed "'Romantic' Life". The idea of being able to create a world and a "life" for yourself, the individual, with a rejection of many of the boundaries that we have in this world, are fundamentally a Romantic view of existence. Comparing Second Life with the life we live now in reality shows us that Second Life really is a form of radicalism, breaking away from the bonds of this life, and giving you a freedom unlike any other.
This freedom has allowed companies and educational institutions to even create an environment of learning and working that would not be possible within this world, but only within the virtual. The internet really is changing the way we learn, work, play, and even live.
However, I wonder how far this will go. What I'm scared of is ending up in a life depicted in Disney and Pixar's "Wall-E". Watch this clip:
Do you think this could happen?
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Yeah, to tell the truth, Second Life kinda freaked me out. Yes, with Second Life people can experience virtually many things that they wouldn't be able to do in real life, but I feel that there is a real danger of getting sucked into this virtual world and neglecting much more important and fulfilling activities in the real world. I don't believe the virtual world, even with all its wonders and marvelous capabilities, will ever fully replace the experience of the real world.
ReplyDeleteI think Second Life is neutral, it is neither good or bad. It is how somebody uses it that can lead to negativity. For example if you use Second Life for a college course then it is a great thing. If you spend every-waking moment living a digital life on Second Life then it is dangerous.
ReplyDeleteElder Bednar says that the danger lies in diminishing the importance of our God-given bodies, "If the adversary cannot entice us to misuse our physical bodies, then one of his most potent tactics is to beguile you and me as embodied spirits to disconnect gradually and physically from things as they really are"
We live in Saratoga Springs, and because of the slown-down building boom, our home is up the hill, sufficiently far away from our neighbors to have an AWESOME view! When we first moved here, we spent all day, every day looking out the windows at the beauty and spleandor that surrounds us.
ReplyDeleteOne day, my Mom came to visit, & was looking out the window, when I realized that I hadn't looked out the window in so long that I couldn't remember the last time! I had gone on with my other business of life, and let the beauty slip by.
In Wall-e (one of our favorite movies, by the way!), the people on the space ship had nothing to do except live in their virtual world. All they had to do was ask for something & a robot would quickly take care of it. At the end, the Captain expresses the feelings of all on board when he says, "I don't want to survive, I want to live!" When they return to earth, the credits imply that everyone used the tools (robots) they had to go out & improve the lands they had, grew crops, explored vistas, and enjoyed the view.
I wonder if those who spend their lives in Second Life (& other such virtual worlds) simply are too enabled & don't really have enough to do!
First of all, until watching that clip the other day i didn't even know that second life existed. it sounds sort of creepy to me. i dont think i will be getting on it any time soon. but that's just me. and second, and i know that Wall-e certainly up-played the techno thing, but i dont think that this will ever happen to humans. here's why. i think at some point there will be a large portion of society that longs for the old way of human interaction, and as usual will start a literary movement. that movement will get bigger and bigger and though it will not captivate everyone, it will be helpful in keeping the technological socializing down. i can see us getting to a place very near there though. but no matter how much you love technology, there is nothing like just being with friends talking and laughing.
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