BWI part2A
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Better World Island, Part 2Posted to: Networked Theory of a Better World by Tom Munnecke (1530), Mon, 31 Jan 2005 08:12:35 PST Edited: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 18:05:44 PST Feedback score: 0 +|- (net 1 from me) Comments: 127 by 16 members (most recent: 2 years ago by Tom Munnecke (1530)) Viewed: 957 times by 92 members This is a continuation of Better World Island, Part 1, and is continued in Better World Island, Part 3 The saga to date: Tom discovers a virtual world building capability, suggests that it might be interesting to build a parallel Better World activity in virtual space. He awakens one morning at 4:00, deciding to build a wormhole as a story theme. Later, he meets Pierre and Rob Hayes in world, builds a wormhole, and waits to see what comes out of it as part of an experiment in Anticipatory Systems thinking and the notion of "incursion" - a kind of forward-looking recursion in which the expectation of the future shapes the present. Tortoise appears as a character in the story, sometimes behind a colon in text, and sometimes in the virtual world, and there seems to be some tension as to whether Tom or Tortoise is actually in charge of this contraption. People and ideas begin to tumble out of the wormhole, and the mechanism appears to be working. Tom decides to write a book about network effects and complexity for the general public, and to set the stories in the book in "real" virtual locations that readers can visit to interact and experience what happens when we accelerate evolution and adaptive systems. Tortoise: Tom doesn't really understand what is happening, and doesn't get the point of it all yet. I'm the one in charge here, and he is just a character in my story that I am writing about a group of people trying to make the world a better place. Just wait until Tortoise can fly...
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By Tom Munnecke (1530), Mon, 31 Jan 2005 09:01:10 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) Pierre and I have been meeting inworld and have been having some interesting adventures: We have formed a "Better World" group in Second Life. What Linden calls "Officers" we have called "Leaders" and what Linden calls "Members" we have called "Scouts." Those exploring in-world should join this group so that we can chat and discover each other's presence. Pierre has put a bid on a large plot of land that we could use to build a Better World Retreat Center as a meeting area I've been playing around with the notion of building an object called the Do Something Platform which the Better World group could use for launching Better World Rockets. One idea would be to require a certain number of Scouts to gather in a Better World Circle, all of whom would select the Better World Payload to be fired off. This payload would come from the Better World Toolkit - which might be, for example a cash donation via PayPal. The rocket launches with a golden thread attached to it, forever linking the circle with its target. This begins to weave a fabric of activities, as more and more people discover their own power to make good things happen. As trust levels increase, the attractive power of the circle increases, too, allowing them to send more powerful payloads, perhaps matched by large foundations or larger givers. The lessons learned from the scouts, their circles, and the rockets they have launched will all be fed back to the general community, so that over time and with enough experiments, the tool kit gets smarter, more resilient, and more adaptive to more contexts. Do Something Platforms would be available only to groups of scouts who had passed certain quests or trust-raising activities, and the payloads they could launch in their Better World Rockets would evolve according to their trustworthiness. The rocket launch system would be incentivized in such a manner that all circles and all scouts benefit by a greater aggregate trust in the community. This creates a positive sum game, rather than a situation in which winners' winnings must be offset by losers' losses. Over time, we may discover that this system is not robust enough or too restrictive. In may in fact spill over to other forms of giving, perhaps even into the "real" world of text-based online forums. Or, we may discover new ways of reliably aggregating trust and cooperation into large flows of resources with less intense attention.
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suggested tags: (no suggestions) Help with tagging is available in the Tagging FAQ. quote and reply... top By Gerry Gleason (CCAL30) (1945), Tue, 01 Feb 2005 09:22:51 PST Edited: Tue, 01 Feb 2005 09:23:26 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) Very interesting story, hope to be able to help. In my world, I like to think of Scouts as junior Leaders. The language of Mentors and ?? also works for me. Leaders need Mentors too, so I could replace ?? with Leaders which sort of flips your analogy.
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suggested tags: (no suggestions) Help with tagging is available in the Tagging FAQ. quote and reply... top By Tom Munnecke (1530), Wed, 02 Feb 2005 16:36:38 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) This just out of the wormhole. Heather Wood Ion suggested recently that I read Terry Pratchett's Small Gods. She mentioned that the tortoise is common in mythology as an animal giving powers to the gods. It appears that Tortoise has been active with other authors - his picture is even on the cover. It is an amazingly funny and insightful book. Here are some quotes: You can't trample infidels when you're a tortoise. I mean, all you could do is give them a meaningful look. One day a tortoise will learn how to fly. Oh, a very useful philosophical animal, your average tortoise. Outrunning metaphorical arrows, beating hares in races... very handy Om began to feel the acute depression that steals over every realist in the presence of an optimist. Pets are always a great help in times of stress. And in times of starvation too, o'course
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suggested tags: (no suggestions) Help with tagging is available in the Tagging FAQ. quote and reply... top By Gerry Gleason (CCAL30) (1945), Wed, 02 Feb 2005 18:41:26 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) Heather is a wise woman.
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suggested tags: (no suggestions) Help with tagging is available in the Tagging FAQ. quote and reply... top By P (CCAL30) (1370), Thu, 03 Feb 2005 10:34:12 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) Gerry, Mentors is a great word. But I think SL users them for folks who help newbies out (folks new to SL). OK, since my identity is out, I have to behave now. I am Jamie Neutra. Damn, I can't wear trashy clothes now. Join us on Kitto's (Pierre) land for some interesting discussion. OK, maybe not yet. We are still figuring this place out. But it is amusing to watch Tortoise having a flamingo stuck to his head and Rob falling down because he ate a "funny" brownie (still chucking over that one. My fault...I gave it to him. I do feel bad, honest.) Peace, p
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suggested tags: (no suggestions) Help with tagging is available in the Tagging FAQ. quote and reply... top By Darlene Charneco (CCAL30) (594), Thu, 03 Feb 2005 13:14:36 PST Comment feedback score: 0 The wormhole activity is strange. It obviously reached backwards through time to my dream 6 years ago (read my profile if confused), everything between then and now reassembled and I walked out of it here, ready to collaborate on the next step.
and suddenly I met Tortoise, of course, how perfect that he's writing a book for all this, he may understand what happened!...and then others arrived. Kitto, Jamie,... and Robbb? insanity insued. I certainly felt like Alice at the Mad Hatter's Teaparty there for a bit.;) But I'll figure this out. I have many many ideas...and this is going to be goooood. But let it be known, avaD is on a Mission. love, Ava Dougall
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suggested tags: (no suggestions) Help with tagging is available in the Tagging FAQ. quote and reply... top By P (CCAL30) (1370), Thu, 03 Feb 2005 14:57:37 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) It was one of the more bizarre evenings passed. We will get more productive soon. Blame the brownie.
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suggested tags: (no suggestions) Help with tagging is available in the Tagging FAQ. quote and reply... top By Rob Hayes (132), Thu, 03 Feb 2005 19:46:23 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) Just for the record, the brownie issue has been solved. And I learned a big 2L lesson. Onward!
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suggested tags: (no suggestions) Help with tagging is available in the Tagging FAQ. quote and reply... top By Tom Munnecke (1530), Thu, 03 Feb 2005 20:34:41 PST Edited: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 20:35:38 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) Pam, don't worry about last night at all. I am keeping the negatives of the snapshots from last night in a very secure area. Again, don't worry. Darlene, As the first person/thing to tumble out of the wormhole, thanks for your photos. We look forward to your ideas. I really like your art and its textures/patterns/dimensionality. All, you can see a mockup of the Do Something Platform next to the wormhole in Darlene's second snapshot. The Better World Rocket launcher is in the center, on the carpet. No payload on it yet, though.
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suggested tags: (no suggestions) Help with tagging is available in the Tagging FAQ. quote and reply... top By Gerry Gleason (CCAL30) (1945), Thu, 03 Feb 2005 20:34:59 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) No joy. Don't think I can join you in Second life with my available systems. The one system I have with Windows installed probably isn't up to it anyway, and I haven't booted into Windows in I don't know how long. It bugs me that you have to give credit card info before even being able to try it out. Oh well.
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suggested tags: (no suggestions) Help with tagging is available in the Tagging FAQ. quote and reply... top By P (CCAL30) (1370), Thu, 03 Feb 2005 21:00:39 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) Hurray Rob! Uh Tom, I have some pics you might not want shared too! And besides, Kitto bought me a new swimsuit... rated PG. Bummer Gerry, time to upgrade! GO MAC! GO APPLE!
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suggested tags: (no suggestions) Help with tagging is available in the Tagging FAQ. quote and reply... top By Gerry Gleason (CCAL30) (1945), Thu, 03 Feb 2005 21:05:36 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) Well, I am a bit of a diehard Linux guy, but I can see having a Mac if I could afford it. For now, three ancient Dells and a rack-mount VA-Linux box will have to do.
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suggested tags: (no suggestions) Help with tagging is available in the Tagging FAQ. quote and reply... top By Therese Fitzpatrick (117), Thu, 03 Feb 2005 21:50:54 PST Edited: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 21:52:25 PST Comment feedback score: 1 (*) +|- (net 1 from me) This thread fascinates me. I read Better World Island 1 & 2 and, um, I'm not sure if you are talking about something real or virtual but I get that it might not matter. I have the right computer to access this world and I will mosey over but. . . I read a book last year about a gathering of some of leading world physicists with Dalai Lama (editor Art Zajonc, physicist, Amherst College). There were a few moments when I understood what I was reading and my mind cracked open. The Dalai Lama grasped the most sophisticated physics in an instant. The thing that stuck out for me most as I read this book was when one of the physicists was explaining an experiment to the Dalai Lama and the physicist said as an aside "of course, it is not necessary to actually do the experiment. We can just watch it in our minds. The experiment is just for people who can't see it in their thinking." So, if virtual reality is good enough for the Dalai Lama and some of the most brilliant physicists in the world, it works for me. I like the retreat center that you guys are building. How about building a love camp for misfits? When people stop sailing smoothly through life, we can send them to love camps and just heap loving care and nurture on them until they are back on the track they want to be in. In my future world, there will be love camps for what we now call criminals, dogmatic religiouis fanatics, workaholics, whoever needs to chill out and feel the love. So. Shall I find this wormhole?!
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suggested tags: (no suggestions) Help with tagging is available in the Tagging FAQ. quote and reply... top By Darlene Charneco (CCAL30) (594), Thu, 03 Feb 2005 21:55:52 PST Comment feedback score: 0 pam, just so you know, I was SO trying to create a nun habit behind that tree to wear back to the hot tub. but no go, and now I've somehow misplaced my favorite pants. Dangerous you are..;)
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suggested tags: (no suggestions) Help with tagging is available in the Tagging FAQ. quote and reply... top By Tom Munnecke (1530), Fri, 04 Feb 2005 00:10:22 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) Well, there is a serious side to all of this discussion - how to engage gaming in positive ways. Pam is working with Hope Lab in something of a similar vein. As I see this, we are very much in the "early adopter" stage of this - I am having difficulties keeping things working on my laptop... but this is presumably getting better rapidly. re: building out other activites/centers - this is the basic model of how Second Life works... folks buy and sell their real estate, join groups to buy land collectively, or whatever. There are tools for building out sites, or you can hire inworld developers to do what you want. Right now, we are squatting on Pierre's land - its pretty much open territory. We'll just have to see how the land use works out. re: thought experiments. I once played with some software which allowed you to simulate evolution by passing genetic material between generations of computer-based critters. I thought about modifying the software so that the when the critters were born they would pick up a karma counter left over from the death of a previous critter. During the life of the critter, the karma count would go up or down according to the good deeds done by the critter. (Shades of our reputation system) After thinking this through a little, I came to the conclusion that I didn't have to go to the work of actually maintaining the critter karma counts... critters only had to believe that this was the case for the karma mechanism to work. The actual counts maintained between critters wasn't critical. (I am probably stepping over huge quantitities of spiritual literature on this one, but hey, we're talking about virtual worlds here) I think a great value of the simulated world would be our ability to work with simulations to see how collective behavior works. In the same way that you don't understand the whole cat by studying the dissected parts, we can't understand the full "live" effects of toolkitts by studying the individual tools. So, the simulated world could deal with the emergent qualities of the activities in some way. Another model might be to have role playing games, where someone might play the role of a Nepalese woman living off $1 per day, and someone else might play the role of a tourist, paying $1 per minute, or something. The island is not the finished product of all these ideas, but rather an open space with an anchor tenant, to see what happens. Its also fun, which is nothing to sneeze at.
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suggested tags: (no suggestions) Help with tagging is available in the Tagging FAQ. quote and reply... top By P (CCAL30) (1370), Fri, 04 Feb 2005 11:57:32 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) HopeLab is doing some groundbreaking stuff. We just learned that some of the trials we are doing are the FIRST ones for this group of kids... more details as soon as we can go public with the data. Sorry. But the video game is awesome and promise to let folks know about it when we can release it (sorry, science first). Haha! I now have a "babe" hairdo... been working on my appearance some. Look for me in my new "teletubbies" t-shirt... Darlene, hmmmm. Well, I now have a PG rated swimsuit. Still trying to find a belly ring though... I agree with Tom that there is some great potential here to look at collective behaviors. But TOM, putting a giant pink flamingo on my hottub was NOT constructive. The immersion effect is quite amazing. The Second Life world really sucks you in. Keep the Doritos away from your stick. Personally, I stick to sugar-free RedBull when online... (hence the pink hair). Peace, p
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suggested tags: (no suggestions) Help with tagging is available in the Tagging FAQ. quote and reply... top By c•a•r•l•a (white) (1330), Fri, 04 Feb 2005 12:01:54 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) ahhh, you're making it sound too fun.... i may have to visit soon...... pink flamigoes, pink hair, teletubbies? how fun is that? also, pam, can't wait to hear more about your game... we want to do one with our characters to teach kids character building values through awesome music, and lots of FUN!!!! anyway, that's all now jamie, tortoise & kitto!
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suggested tags: (no suggestions) Help with tagging is available in the Tagging FAQ. quote and reply... top By Tom Munnecke (1530), Fri, 04 Feb 2005 13:54:55 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) Pam, sorry about the giant pink flamingo. I hope it didn't harm the water quality in the hot tub. now, seriously, there are some neat things we could do with this technology... some ideas: create the retreat center as a meeting area for the Better World Group. figure out ways of inspiring group activities, quests, games, etc. which would further the values we seek to inculcate. attract a cadre of inworld builders to help us build this out. hold a Better World Design contest, in which folks would submit their designs for a Better World Island. find other Better World groups in world and link with them. I think that there is a group called Vertue which holds dances for charity, etc.
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suggested tags: (no suggestions) Help with tagging is available in the Tagging FAQ. quote and reply... top By Lars Hasselblad Torres (3514), Fri, 04 Feb 2005 14:01:24 PST Edited: Fri, 04 Feb 2005 14:02:59 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) be a good place to find some young presences online and develop Brad's idea of, correct me if i'm wrong, a peace tower? i not sure that the technology hurdles wouldn't reinforce and elite group of tech-savvy users though (elite in the kinder, gentler sense of having some sophisticated tech skills -- here, Better World "docents" or tour guides will be a must!). how about the programming types creating scripts you can easily "give" people so they can "worm hole" their way to your secret hang out?
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suggested tags: (no suggestions) Help with tagging is available in the Tagging FAQ. quote and reply... top By P (CCAL30) (1370), Fri, 04 Feb 2005 14:25:31 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) http://www.peacepole.com/
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suggested tags: (no suggestions) Help with tagging is available in the Tagging FAQ. quote and reply... top By Lars Hasselblad Torres (3514), Fri, 04 Feb 2005 15:21:31 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) hey that's cool pam -- maybe there's a way to create those for Second Lifers -- i bet that wouldn't be too hard! i think i'll stick one in my garden at Cliffside :)
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suggested tags: (no suggestions) Help with tagging is available in the Tagging FAQ. quote and reply... top By Tom Munnecke (1530), Fri, 04 Feb 2005 15:25:39 PST Edited: Fri, 04 Feb 2005 15:39:46 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) Re: Peace poles - this would be a neat idea, and i think fairly easy to build... There are apparently new builders classes to teach how to do this. I might try a crack at one myself - it would be more constructive than my original idea of animating the Giant Pink Flamingo's reaction when you pull its paw. We could also use these as beacons to connect people and regions, or connect them with threads so that folks can zip between locations like they do in the jungles in Costa Rica. This is also evocative of Darlene's art, for example, Entanglement is one of many:
Maybe we could imagine a whole region (or entire island) of better world circles or communities, each with a peace pole, and connected via zip lines to each other. And maybe we could make the Peace Pole the centerpiece of the Do Somthing Platform, as well as the Better World Rocket Launcher.
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suggested tags: (no suggestions) Help with tagging is available in the Tagging FAQ. quote and reply... top By Tom Munnecke (1530), Fri, 04 Feb 2005 15:42:54 PST Comment feedback score: 1 (*) +|- (net 0 from me) Re: Peace poles - this would be a neat idea, and i think fairly easy to build... There are apparently new builders classes to teach how to do this. I might try a crack at one myself - it would be more constructive than my original idea of animating the Giant Pink Flamingo's reaction when you pull its paw. We could also use these as beacons to connect people and regions, or connect them with threads so that folks can zip between locations like they do in the jungles in Costa Rica. This is also evocative of Darlene's art, for example, Entanglement:
or Threads of Empathy:
Maybe we could imagine a whole region (or entire island) of better world circles or communities, each with a peace pole, and connected via zip lines to each other. And maybe we could make the Peace Pole the centerpiece of the Do Somthing Platform, as well as the Better World Rocket Launcher.
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suggested tags: (no suggestions) Help with tagging is available in the Tagging FAQ. quote and reply... top By Lars Hasselblad Torres (3514), Fri, 04 Feb 2005 16:01:08 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) i like the way you think, tom -- while zip lines might clutter the visual landscape, how about starting off with trying to get one at every teleport station? maybe as your wormhole develops, they could mark them... somehow. i may have to take a builders class. let me know which one you sign up for.
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suggested tags: (no suggestions) Help with tagging is available in the Tagging FAQ. quote and reply... top By P (CCAL30) (1370), Fri, 04 Feb 2005 16:12:09 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) Glad you liked them for SL... make sure you give those folks their brand credit... do not want to piss them off. Lars, PM me your SL name. I need to buy a real one or two! Peace, P
