What literature (should) shapes our SL?

I would highly recommend a very close reading of "That Hideous Strength" by C.S. Lewis, about the disembodied brain "intelligence" kept alive in a lab that was supposed to be the hope of mankind and instead was evil.

"Ours is a high and lonely destiny," the arrogant cry of the mad evil scientist in this wonderful novel by the author of the "Narnia" series is the slogan of all the FIC-geeks who believe they have something "special" with the Internet and science and technology but are really just doing the same old good/evil thing that has been done by humans for the millenia.

For extra credit, read "Perelandra," the first in the series.

I think Marshall McLuhan's "The Medium is the Message" is also relevant. There isn't much new under the sun.

Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman.

Actually, I remember a conversation a group of us had back in beta... several of the Lindens cited Richard Powers' Plowing the Dark as inspirational. It features the creative possibilities of virtual environments more than the social impact, if I'm remembering it correctly.

HAHAHA... OMG... so true... Needful Things is one of my all-time faves, and the messages within are certainly to be cautiously heeded, applicable as they are to SL. STEPHEN KING IS A GENIUS.

Don't you ever get tired of spewing this garbage?

It's hard work being a malcontent, but he pours his heart into it!

"Malcontent" is a badge of honor for good ole Prok. Bears do deficate in the woods, ducks don't have lips, toast falls butter-side-down, and Prok Proklethisizes. Its in his nature. Don't complain, be entertained!

After all, if it weren't for malcontents, we'd all still live in caves. SOMEBODY once decided they were tired of being cold at night and eating raw meat, and complained so much about it that somebody else figured out how to make a fire in order to shut them up. It all went from there.

Probably not for as long as you keep responding to it. And I say that without intending any offense.

My suggestions:

Greg Bear on artificial intelligence and human psychosis in Queen of Angels
Vernor Vinge on The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era
Samuel Delany on "cultural fugue" in Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand
Marvin Minsky on The Emotion Machine
Dr. Rudolf von Bitter Rucker (Rudy Rucker)'s Transreal!

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

It's marketing Chip.

After some web searches, I am convinced this is Prokofy's MO, regarldless of the venue. Do a search on Dyerbrook and TSO.

Very enlightening.

Prokofy's refusal to separate RL baggage (the soviet union) from any glint of authority, older players, more successful players, wealthier players, etc within SL simply reaffirms what I have learned.

Classic redirect.

"An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" by Adam Smith

and

"The Prince" by Machiavelli

I think suit SL pretty well.

-AP

"The Probability Broach" by L Neil Smith.

It's a science fiction Libertarian novel. Hopelessly optimistic in some respects, but it has some remarkable insights into the idea of a society whose laws are governed by the principles of fist-and-nose; One person's right to swing their fists extends only as far as the beginning of their neighbor's nose.

There is a difference between "offensive" and "offending against"; and defining the differences between the two will be one of the most significant social obstacles for Linden Labs to overcome, if SecondLife is to grow from a Meta-Game into a Metaverse.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, H. S. Thompson

islandia
laputa
animal farm
brigadoon
watership down
neverwhere
spock's world
sandman
finder
war for the oaks
the practice effect
exchange of hostages
svaha
find your own truth
tetrarch
earthsea trilogy
a door into ocean
left hand of darkness
becoming alien
uhura's song
howl's moving castle
the wizardy compiles
i dare
childhood's end
wreaththu
sabriel
lust
was
the companions
weaveworld
abarat
dreams underfoot

second actually.

well Prokofy it's finally happening. you get to be the first and only person on my mute list. every time you open your mouth something negative and crazy comes out and it's not even amusing anymore. have fun out there and i hope you can stop being so bitter and victimised. it's not good for you.

I think a huge number of SL residents would be into The Illuminatus Trilogy! by Robert Anton Wilson:
http://www.american-buddha.com/illuminatus!.abol.htm
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0440539811/</a>

There'd also be a niche into Chuck Palahniuk books like Fight Club, Invisible Monsters and Choke:
http://www.chuckpalahniuk.net/

However, they're all confusing, anarchic, liberating and counter-cultural so perhaps they'd not shape SL as much misshape it.

Pretty misshapen place already, if you ask me. Beautifully misshapen, anyway...

I think Dan Simmons' Hyperion series is appropriate.

Yeah, Zuzi, "Out of the Silent Planet" is the first in the series, "Perelandra" is the second. SO sorry! Did the comment about the mad scientist hit a little too close to home? Mute? There's mute on forums? That's hilarious.



*Rattles Nolan's tinfoil hat*. Um, Nolan, there is some "special" thing here lol? If anybody has the time to read *even longer* posts on SLH, more power to them LOL.

I think the Soviet Union has many useful lessons to teach people in a virtual world which has picked up a lot of its baggage, it's not MY baggage lol. Human beings tend to recreate totalitarian systems when left to their own devices. Didn't you ever read "Lord of the Flies?" There's another good book to put on the Sl reading list.

Do you have the conch now, Nolan?

For those of you watching at home and just tuning in, Nolan is endlessly entertaining me by IM'ing me and feigning to have a heart-to-heart talk with me in game, replete with all the methods you learn in the armed services for how to interrogate the enemy, like good-cop, bad-cop, triadic repetition of the narrative, asking the same question 6 different ways, leading questions, personal questions, provoocative questions, feigning to tell some highly personal story from SL or RL so that the target will "fall into conversation" and reveal some RL or SL detail, etc. etc. These are all well-known and pretty transparent, and don't constitute good journalistic practice, just like telling people "Surprise, You're On Candid Blog" after talking to them for an hour and copying their convo on a notecard isn't really an interview, but a TOS violation har har har.

I don't care WHAT you publish because as you may have noticed, I don't say anything different in game than what I saw on the forums than what I think in my brain. I'm like that, an open book. So dig around the Internet all you like, but one problem you'll have is trying to prove that I "took EA.Com to court and lost and was expelled from the game" -- this is hilarious, none of it is true. Go ask Jeff Brown, except you might have to talk to the hand LOL. Really, Nolan, you need to stop reading SLH so much and get a second life LOL. I'm a full-fledged member of TSO in good standing and even got my Mystic Tree delivered finally : )

The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster (with illustration by Jules Fieffer. The movie wasn't bad, either.

It was my introduction to fantasy and was my gateway drug to PKD, Gibson, Stephenson and, finally, SL.

I love the Phantom Tollbooth! I still think of the scene where Milo and Ticktock must must grains of sand with tweezers from one pile to another when taking on any monotonous task.

The wizard of oz
Philip being the great and powerful Oz of course

I agree with alot of these people already listed.

I also see alot of Hustler, Playboy, and Kama Sutra types displayed in SL.

hahahahahah Buster I LOVE you as an addition to the forums. Proklethisizes... that's my favorite word of the day.

All you need now is a park bench and another old man.