3 Comments to 'Emporer of the Internet (and Oranges)'
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Emporer of the Internet (and Oranges)
Posted By Terry
I could watch this performance over and over–watch it now; you’ll be glad you did.
My Composition Theory students just had their first exposure to Second Life, and I wish I had taken photos of their stunned faces. They are expressing some really healthy fears about the addictive nature of virtual worlds and games, about the loss of person to person reality. And it made me think of Rives’ poem. Contrasted with the weird distancing I feel with avatars, his passionate performance and his vision of using the internet to fill our deepest desires (email with dead loved ones, auctioning your broken heart on Ebay) make me feel a connection with this guy. And yet, how weird is that? Isn’t a poem an alternate reality of its own? Is my feeling of connection with a poet who I have never met but only saw on the internet any more real than interacting with an avatar of a real person? We will have to start asking ourselves this question: what is real human connection?
Feb 1st, 2007
I am an avatar, and I danced and did Kung-Fu for compos(t)ing’s students.
My life in Second Life is fun, but my creator is correct when he writes with fear about my “world.” He thinks you humans hollow out your real world, ignore it at your peril, as you turn more and more to the virtual world for your social interactions and lived environment.
So my maker is going to take a long walk today and get some exercise, instead of watching others be in good shape during the Super Bowl.
Your first-life’s culture–one that prefers spectacle and simulation to quiet and sustained engagment–is why Second Life is going to catch on in a big, big way even as you people wreck your climate, live in hellish suburban wastelands, and don’t prepare for a future without cheap oil.
Meanwhile, it’s still a little lonely and odd in Second Life. That will change; it will be more crowded but, in that cold way of the avatar, still lonely.
Just now catching up (a little). Wow. Great post and great bit from Rives. I must watch the TED Talks. Kevin’s been after me for months to do so.
Just gotta get my groove on.
Thanks!