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POPSBuilding 'The Matrix' Feynman envisioned, a general purpose, programmable quantum computer could itself carry out quantum simulations. But such machines are still decades away, most researchers say, while machines designed only for quantum simulations may become available sooner.
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POPSVirtual Unreality (Part 1) This speculation about virtual worlds, besides being fun, reflects on the very deep question of Freedom, freedom of the mind, that is. What is freedom? How much freedom can we really take? How are we going to be if and when we become free. Continue to the second part of this clip...
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POPSVirtual Unreality (Part 2) Looking from the perspective of a futuristic, perfect virtual reality, we are forced to question the very essence of our existence. What is the point of living if a utopia is provided for us? Once the superficial shell of reality is peeled from us, what is left of the human soul? What are the common denominators of our existence? The virtual world paradigm opens up our eyes to the limitations of reality, and shows us the true essence of what it means to be human.
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POPSFrom Snapshots, a 3-D View - Amazing New Technology In a Photosynth demonstration at the annual TED conference last year, the presenter blew the crowd’s mind with a photosynth of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, made up of photos mined from Flickr.com. In other words, Microsoft had created a seamless, successful photosynth using hundreds of existing photos, taken by different people at different times using all kinds of cameras.
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POPSBlended Realities, Blended Lives As part of our continued research on human-futures interaction, we will take a people-centric approach. We will start with the human experience and ask questions about how we'll navigate a future where we have multiple personas, play games to solve serious problems, and how the interaction between individuals, groups, and machines is creating new kind of knowledge.
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POPSCreating a Web of Worlds Koster envisions users coming to a Metaplace world by clicking on a link in a Web page. That link launches a page where the user finds herself inside a world, perhaps using a default avatar, but no log-in or registration is immediately required.
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POPSVirtuality and reality 'to merge' "In virtual worlds we do real romance, real learning, real business. Virtual reality is real reality." He added: "Games are the cutting edge of what is happening - we are going to spend more of our time in virtual reality environments. "Fully emergent games is really where we want to go. We will do most of our learning through these massively parallel interactions." "Play is how we principally learn and principally create," he said.
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POPSWhat Are You Optimistic About? - The Edge Annual Question 2007 The Edge asks a very interesting question to a whole bunch of leading thinkers, scientists, philosophers, etc. each year. This is this years question. Last years question was: "What is your Dangerous Idea"? Question of 2005 was " What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it ? I only clipped a tiny selection of the candidates & links to their answers of this years question. It's a great resource. Really worth checking out. Just click one of the links I clipped & feed yourselves with some optimism. ( ;-) to invictus)
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POPSIntelligence and Empathy He stresses that the human mind does not qualify as a completely ‘General Intelligence’ but lies somewhere on the spectrum between AGI on one end and ‘Narrow AI’ on the other. This is one of several reasons why he does not expect AGI to be achieved by mimicking the workings of the human brain. He describes how our brains fool us into believing that we understand our actions and decisions when we don’t. And why modeling an AI too closely on the human brain might make it too, vulnerable to false notions. He also says, ‘I think virtual worlds are going to be absolutely critical to the development of Artificial General Intelligence.’ As well as ‘Right now connecting AI’s to virtual worlds is probably the best way to get an AI to have a general human-like embodied experience.’
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POPSVirtual Worlds - Real-World Problems As with any novel technology, virtual worlds bring new opportunities and new problems. The embrace of virtual worlds by companies for mundane uses on the one hand, and by scam artists to get up to no good on the other, points not to the shortcomings of such environments—but to their increasing maturity and potential. “I don't think this is the end to fun and games,” says Mr Kane. “I think it's only the beginning.”
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POPSWill There Be Cities in a Virtual World? Always cool to see predictions that've come true. Some 6+ years later after this was published, we know now what's happened. And the answer, looking at the specific instance of Second Life, is yes. :) P.S. Not the first time either, as pioneering, earlier online worlds like Habitat have demonstrated. Odd how this article is heavy on the words but misses out the key concept of an "avatar" as digital persona.
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POPSRoo Reynolds, Metaverse Evangelist I like job titles that make you do a double-take. I recently spotted this in the Beeb online. These types of articles are becoming more common; I can't imagine it's too long before the novelty wears off and they become ubiquitously meshed yet valuable, like what Steve Jobs thinks of Levi jeans. ;) From an insider perspective (I work for Linden Lab), I should note how dapper Roo aka Algernon looks, and how unique his head is shaped: you'll often not find prominent eyebrows like that in Second Life, especially paired with big blue eyes and a teardrop-shaped head not unlike that of a classic Gray alien. Lots of room for avatar customization, that's for sure.
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POPSToys Read Brain Waves Le, a 29-year-old Australian woman, said the company decided in 2004 to target gamers because they would generate the most revenue — but eventually Emotive will build equipment for clinical use. The technology could enable paralyzed people to "move" in virtual realty; people with obsessive-compulsive disorders could measure their anxiety levels, then adjust medication accordingly.
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POPSLaw and Order in the virtual universes i think it is interesting the way a community is being built. from the article: "In 2006, Linden Lab, the creator of Second Life, canceled Marc Bragg's account for violating the world's policies on real estate deals. Bragg sued Linden, saying he legally owned the content he created in Second Life, including land and businesses. The suit was eventually settled, and Bragg's avatar was restored. Authorities also have intervened in crimes committed in online worlds. In the Netherlands, for example, a teenager was arrested for stealing more than $5,000 worth of virtual furniture in a world called Habbo. "This is such a nascent area when it comes to the law," said Sean F. Kane, a partner in the law firm Drakeford & Kane. "If a certain world allows you to be a thief, is it a crime or just an aspect of the game? Should real-world law apply?" there is much thinking to do, involved...
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