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		<!-- END ODIOGO LISTEN BUTTON v2.5.7 (WP) -->{"id":117,"date":"2007-03-28T11:38:58","date_gmt":"2007-03-28T11:38:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/slewth.wordpress.com\/2007\/03\/28\/the-second-life-trap\/"},"modified":"2007-03-28T11:38:58","modified_gmt":"2007-03-28T11:38:58","slug":"the-second-life-trap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slewth.co.uk\/blog\/2007\/03\/28\/the-second-life-trap\/","title":{"rendered":"The Second Life Trap"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n\t\t<!-- BEGIN ODIOGO LISTEN BUTTON v2.5.7 (WP) -->\r\n\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\" language=\"javascript\">\r\n\t\t<!--\r\n\t\t\/\/ ODIOGO_START:do_NOT_remove_this_comment\r\n\t\tshowOdiogoReadNowButton (\"687068\", \"The Second Life Trap\", \"117\", 290, 55);\r\n\t\t\/\/ -->\r\n\t\t<\/script>\r\n\t\t<br\/>\r\n\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\" language=\"javascript\">\r\n\t\t<!--\r\n\t\tshowInitialOdiogoReadNowFrame (\"687068\", \"117\", 290, 0);\r\n\t\t\/\/ ODIOGO_END:do_NOT_remove_this_comment\r\n\t\t\/\/ -->\r\n\t\t<\/script>\r\n\t\t<!-- END ODIOGO LISTEN BUTTON v2.5.7 (WP) -->\r\n\t\t\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"font-family:Arial;\">Is my avatar really free?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"font-family:Arial;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"font-family:Arial;\">I first logged into <a href=\"http:\/\/www.secondlife.com\/\">Second Life<\/a> in April 2006, and in truth I wasn&#8217;t too impressed.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>Since then my knowledge of Second Life has been determinedly second-hand, mostly from enthusiastic weekend broadsheets, anxious to impress, or the notorious <a href=\"http:\/\/www.popbitch.com\/\"><span style=\"color:#606420;\">Pop Bitch<\/span><\/a>, a filthy e-rag that occasionally vomits diamonds into my inbox on a Thursday.<br \/><span>&nbsp; <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"font-family:Arial;\">Last week my partner decided to try out Second Life (as a cultural experiment, you understand) and this has led to an avatar-as-time-share for the two of us. It quickly became clear to me that not much has changed.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>Consumerism abounds, gambling, strip clubs, and all the aesthetics of bloated engenderment continue, whilst interesting enclaves appear increasingly off-limits.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>This is barely worth reporting, save some insights afforded by Adam Curtis&#8217; acerbic series of short films <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/bbctwo\/noise\/?id=trap\">&#8216;The Trap: What happened to our dream of freedom&#8217;<\/a> on BBC 2.<br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"font-family:Arial;\"><span>&nbsp; <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"font-family:Arial;\">Curtis examines the nature of modern liberty, and states that<\/span><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\"> in an attempt to liberate us, Western governments have simply narrowed our choices and created a system where class and money mean everything.<span>&nbsp; <span lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"font-family:Arial;\">In the final, most recent installment &quot;We Will Force You To Be Free&quot;, <\/span><\/span>Curtis focused particularly on the inheritance of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Isaiah_Berlin\"><span style=\"color:#606420;\">Isiah <span lang=\"EN\">Berlin<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><span lang=\"EN\" style=\"font-family:Arial;\">&#8216;s 1958 <a title=\"Two Concepts of Liberty\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Two_Concepts_of_Liberty\">Two Concepts of Liberty<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;\"><span lang=\"EN\" style=\"font-family:Arial;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial;\">I was particularly struck by the notion of Second Life as a form of actualised, and somewhat dehumanised Negative Liberty, in Curtis&#8217; terms.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>Democracy is not automatically rising through the individual cells inhabiting Second Life, and the &#8216;invisible hand&#8217; of the Market is not driving the quality of my experience either.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>In short, Second Life lacks meaning, and, I would argue, and the capacity for meaningful self expression.&nbsp; Is my avatar really free?<span>&nbsp; <\/span>Viva La Revolucion!<\/span><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\r\n\t\t<!-- BEGIN ODIOGO LISTEN BUTTON v2.5.7 (WP) -->\r\n\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\" language=\"javascript\">\r\n\t\t<!--\r\n\t\t\/\/ ODIOGO_START:do_NOT_remove_this_comment\r\n\t\tshowOdiogoReadNowButton (\"687068\", \"The Second Life Trap\", \"117\", 290, 55);\r\n\t\t\/\/ -->\r\n\t\t<\/script>\r\n\t\t<br\/>\r\n\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\" language=\"javascript\">\r\n\t\t<!--\r\n\t\tshowInitialOdiogoReadNowFrame (\"687068\", \"117\", 290, 0);\r\n\t\t\/\/ ODIOGO_END:do_NOT_remove_this_comment\r\n\t\t\/\/ -->\r\n\t\t<\/script>\r\n\t\t<!-- END ODIOGO LISTEN BUTTON v2.5.7 (WP) -->\r\n\t\t\n<p>Is my avatar really free? I first logged into Second Life in April 2006, and in truth I wasn&#8217;t too impressed.&nbsp; Since then my knowledge of Second Life has been determinedly second-hand, mostly from enthusiastic weekend broadsheets, anxious to impress, or the notorious Pop Bitch, a filthy e-rag that occasionally vomits diamonds into my inbox [&hellip;]<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/slewth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/slewth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/slewth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slewth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slewth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/slewth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/slewth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slewth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slewth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}