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Wednesday, October 25, 2006
social evolution and second life
I have been reading and watching a lot about second life lately. The US govt. want to tax money made in SL. (I guess people will move operations out of the states if they are making a lot of cash, same as on line gambling) There was a discussion on Radio 4 about the problems of setting up companies in SL.
SL could be seen as a historical sort of society where there are few rules and laws as people haven't got round to making them yet or even know they need them. The closest thing I can come up with is a sort of Anchient Greek tyrant or one of the classical Ceasars in Anchient Rome. Most of the power is concentrated in a few few people (The Lindens == Sentate and Phillip Linden == Ceasar) There are a few basic laws for crimes such as assault (or greifing), property laws and a system for payments. More or less everything else open to interpretation.
Of course this begs the question how will SL evolve? Will governments take it over and turn it into something more like r/l with defining as much as possible? Or will it remain freewheeling? Or will it become more of a democracy with more people having a say in how things are run? Lets hope so.
Labels: second life
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