Second Life closes banks, causes upheaval (Earlier) The micro-economy of Britney Spears If you’re willing to be in a psych experiment, does that mean you shouldn’t be in one? Fertility tied to wealth in eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
Can we predict a recession based on how often newspapers use the word? Freakonomics now available on the street in India. Are New Years’ resolutions ineffective? A study. (Earlier) Second Life bans virtual banking to thwart scams. (Earlier)
Last week, we solicited your questions for Second Life creator Philip Rosedale. Your questions were excellent, as are his answers. Thanks to all. Q: Do you have macroeconomists regulating the supply of Linden dollars? [Some virtual worlds do.] Are they Keynesians? Monetarists? Does the economy experience inflation? A: We don’t have an economist on staff yet, but we’d love to . . .
You could argue that Philip Rosedale has done more than anyone else to help millions of people live their dreams. As the founder and CEO of Linden Lab, the San Francisco-based company that created Second Life (which we’ve blogged about now and again), he has taken virtual reality to a whole new place. A technology whiz since childhood (he built . . .
Seth Schiesel wrote a fascinating piece in the Times about a new collaboration between game maker Electronic Arts and the energy company BP in designing the latest version of E.A.’s SimCity computer game. In case you don’t know, SimCity “focuses on building and managing a modern metropolis.” As Schiesel tells us, “coping with environmental pollution has long been part of . . .
Labor demonstrations come to Second Life. (Earlier) Now in business school curricula: socially conscious investing. The real reason why no one washes rented cars. Schumpeter and Galbraith, compared.
Home sales hit five-year low. (Earlier) Second Life’s future: “bigger than the Web“?(Earlier) Delta starts a blog. (Earlier) Risk analyst sets next year’s median of U.S. terrorism deaths at zero. (Earlier)
We got an e-mail the other day from a certain Sara in Chicago. She had a question about the virtual world Second Life, but it could be asked of many pursuits, virtual and otherwise. (Even though I’ve never visited Second Life, I have been thinking about this issue lately since I have become a gold farmer for my own kids, . . .
More on the clash of sex and legal issues in Second Life: Tech.Blorge.com reports that one Second Life user is suing another (in real life) for copyright infringement over a virtual “sex bed” that lets avatars simulate 150 different carnal acts. Plaintiff Kevin Alderman, founder of Eros LLC, alleges that the defendant, “Second Life resident” Volkov Catteneo, copied and is . . .
Our own Gary Langer analyzes polls on recently departed conservative icon Jerry Falwell taken over his lifetime. The results can be summarized as follows: “Popularity with most Americans was not among the Rev. Jerry Falwell’s achievements.” In a development on the link between motherhood and happiness, Science Daily profiles a study done by the U. Michigan Institute for Social Research . . .
As reported by Wired’s Regina Lynn: Controversy is brewing in virtual reality world Second Life over the occurrence and potential illegality of online rape. The 3-D virtual world, built and owned by its more than 6 million users, currently allows members to engage in a wide range of sexual activities. You can buy S&M gear and solicit strippers, escorts, and . . .