John Crowley Little and Big

Not Psychic -- Stranger than that

Not Psychic -- Stranger than that

[info]crowleycrow
11/5/06 10:10 am
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JC, Patience and Prudence, Dawn O'Day, baby, Nurse Howl, Pirate Treasure, Kentucky, Petty Squabbles
SO it's not psychic, and we all know about coincidence, how we notice things that are not only coincident but somehow meaningful or interesting to us:  but surely such coincidences are on the rise to the point of changing their nature or effect or power.  Yesterday had a conversation with my nephew, who has become intrigued (maybe just shy of obsessed) with a virtual-shared-world called Second Life (ah yes, YOU knew, but I didn't) and how he had an Avatar going around in it, and how much of his time it consumed.  So I went and looked for it, and found it, and went into it, creating an Avatar of my own; and was plunged into a realm, not particularly rich as far as I could get, feeling much like Alice in Wonderland as I tried to navigate -- you can fly, and I dropped myself in the ocean by accident, and found a shrimp boat to perch on, but couldn't find land; when I did I was constantly getting lost in trees, and coming up to signboards that said nothing, Other people appeared, and made cryptic remarks to me, and I to them.

And last night I kept dreaming or half-dreaming of this place, or a place like it, and following my Avatar around, the realm expanding or diminishing.

And this morning I turned on the radio, and a man is talking  baout driving his virtual car in a virtual world -- an article on NPR about Second Life.  Actually a preview of one that will be on tomorrow. 

The World Data Stream converges again.
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  • [info]zahzeh
    11/5/06 03:28 pm (UTC)
    Well, *I* didn' t know about the site, but I've had my own personal freaky-deaky psycho psychic experiences these past few weeks, so I'm going to check this Second Life site out. Thanks! :)

  • Interesting, But....

    [info]vakratunda
    11/5/06 06:27 pm (UTC)
    I've been rereading your short story 'In Blue'.

    I had thought that 'act-field theory' and so on were a
    satire on Marxist dialectic.

    And I have been hoping that you found the post-Revolution
    society as creepy as I do.

    I'll listen to anything you have to say about this.

    I think it is a good story. It annoys me, but that in a way
    that makes me reread it.




    .


  • "We beg your acceptance of this elegant thimble"

    (Anonymous)
    11/5/06 06:31 pm (UTC)
    "As she said these words her foot slipped, and in another moment, splash! she was up to her chin in salt water. Her first idea was that she had somehow fallen into the sea, ...she soon made out that she was in the pool of tears which she had wept when she was nine feet high.

    `I wish I hadn't cried so much!' said Alice, as she swam about, trying to find her way out. `I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears! That will be a queer thing, to be sure! However, everything is queer to-day.'...

    ..."What I was going to say," said the Dodo in an offended tone, "was, that the best thing to get us dry would be a Caucus-race."

    • Re: "We beg your acceptance of this elegant thimble"

      (Anonymous)
      11/5/06 07:33 pm (UTC)
      He took her hand, looking up. "A long drink of water," he said, and she began to laugh. Her sister laughed too, and George Mouse bent down and slapped his knee.

      "Mine is a long and a sad tale!" said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and sighing.

    • Re: "We beg your acceptance of this elegant thimble"

      [info]crowleycrow
      11/5/06 08:47 pm (UTC)
      One of the choices you can make for how your avatar is to move around in Second Life is "Always run". Like the Red Queen too, who has to run very fast to stay in the same place.


      • Re: "We beg your acceptance of this elegant thimble"

        (Anonymous)
        11/6/06 08:50 pm (UTC)
        "The mage is by definition he who manipulates and rules those forces at whose direction the common run blindly live"

        The Red Queen hypothesis: " ... under this view...species had to "run" (evolve) in order to stay in the same place (extant)."
        http://www.indiana.edu/~curtweb/Research/Red_Queen%20hyp.html

  • As Far As Coincidence Goes

    [info]vakratunda
    11/5/06 06:33 pm (UTC)
    Your first miraculous escape from death is really impressive, the second somewhat less so. Once you get past half a dozen or so, you get almost blase about the whole thing. I mean, probability is just not in it.

    Obsession with internet based communications is nothing new: I thank the good Lord that I got it out of my system in the early days of IRC in 1990, 1991.

    Some people haven't. Have you ever run into furries? That whole thing started as a MUD sometime in the early nineties if not earlier. Now it has become a real-world lifestyle. Yes, Johmn, there are people who cannot or will not have sex unless they are dressed in suits made to look like anthropomorphic cartoon animals.

    No, I am not making this up.





    .





    .

    • Re: As Far As Coincidence Goes

      [info]fringefaan
      11/6/06 12:35 am (UTC)
      The love that dare not squeak its name. At least nobody gets killed! Except petitely.

    • Re: As Far As Coincidence Goes

      [info]jrpipik
      11/6/06 04:07 am (UTC)
      Obsession with virtual worlds is nothing new either. Kids have been living in Tolkien or Marvel Comics or Dungeons and Dragons for decades. I'm not the least surprised the same thing happens with computer worlds.

  • curious...?

    (Anonymous)
    11/6/06 12:46 am (UTC)
    Do you intend to discuss how you feel about winning the Life-Achivement award?

  • [info]dougmander
    11/6/06 01:15 am (UTC)
    How odd -- I've been in Second Life for over two years, and never dreamed of it until today. As I was dozing this morning, I dreamed I saw an avatar with two beautiful animated cats (gray tabby and marmalade), and I tried to ask her if she had built them or whether she had bought them somewhere. My daughter trotted into my room and woke me up before I could get the answer, which makes me laugh, because in the dream I wanted to buy them for her. You know, SL does feel like running through a patchwork of other people's dreams, by turns mundane, erotic, puzzling, and achingly beautiful.

    I'm heading there now -- come visit me at Vaoetere 114, 159, 54 (just teleport to those coordinates). Go to the tavern and ask for Blackthorn Hare. I'll have a virtual cup of tea waiting for you.

    • [info]obreerbo
      11/14/06 08:29 pm (UTC)
      Here is that address expressed as a SLurl. Clicking on that link will allow you to teleport to that location in just two steps, if you have the SL client open alongside your browser. Easier than keying the coordinates into the global map...

  • [info]eudaimonia
    11/6/06 03:37 am (UTC)
    I read recently that Second Life was based on Neal Stephenson's novel "Snowcrash".

    I haven't tried Second Life, I'm afraid of being sucked into the vortex! ;-)

  • [info]womzilla
    11/12/06 08:51 am (UTC)
    I am fairly certain that I just heard that Second Life has its own Reuters bureau. And Wikipedia confirms it.

    It makes me wonder whether Reuters ever had an official Usenet desk.

  • [info]akelatalamasca
    11/14/06 07:35 am (UTC)
    Hello, Mr. Crowley! I've just posted about this on www.secondlifeinsider.com and would love to interview you for the blog if you have the interest and time. Please drop me a line at akelatal@gmail.com if you'd consider it. Thank you!
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