As I write, Second Life is reaching 1.5 million registered accounts - 50 per cent growth from just over a month a go. SL has its problems, but in a few years we may reach a point where almost everyone in the more privileged social strata of the more privileged countries has an account with SL or whatever competitors come along, whether or not they use it much, just as we all have e-mail and chat accounts.
I see this technology becoming more and more convenient and immersive, whatever the current performance problems for SL itself. I can't imagine it not becoming an increasing part of our lives in future years.
About Me
- Russell Blackford
- Australian philosopher, literary critic, legal scholar, and professional writer. Based in Newcastle, NSW. My latest books are THE TYRANNY OF OPINION: CONFORMITY AND THE FUTURE OF LIBERALISM (2019); AT THE DAWN OF A GREAT TRANSITION: THE QUESTION OF RADICAL ENHANCEMENT (2021); and HOW WE BECAME POST-LIBERAL: THE RISE AND FALL OF TOLERATION (2024).
4 comments:
Whenever I see a bold prediction of this sort, I like to play with it, in the hope that I can find hidden assumptions or, contrariwise, twist it into an even bolder prediction. So:
As of June 2006, the English Wikipedia has reached 111,163 registered accounts — 6 per cent growth from the month before. WP has its problems, but in a few years we may reach a point where almost everyone in the more privileged social strata of the more privileged countries has an account with WP or whatever competitors come along, whether or not they use it much, just as we all have e-mail and chat accounts.
I see this technology becoming more and more convenient and immersive, whatever the current performance problems for WP itself. I can't imagine it not becoming an increasing part of our lives in future years.
If nothing else, figuring out why any of these great new matrices might not become increasingly significant in our lives would make a great plot for a story.
Sometimes ... just occasionally ... I like to make a prediction that might actually be falsifiable. ;)
Doesn't that automatically boot you out of the Philosophers' Club? ;-)
Philosophy and science are continuous. :)
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