2009.01.06 01:00 - Geeks Communicating in the Future

I, Pema, was the guardian that night. After I arrived, I was alone for a while, and then Crusty joined me.

Pema Pera: Hi Crusty!
Crusty Goldshark: Hi Pema
Crusty Goldshark: Just unlocked the ability to do Zazen on the WiiFit :)
Pema Pera: I've heard of the Wii but I'm not familiar with it
Pema Pera: how do you do zazen with it?
Crusty Goldshark: Had to stare at a candle whilst a moth gets frizzled
Crusty Goldshark: Well it is a games console - and the Wiifit is a balance board so you sit on it and sit still
Crusty Goldshark: You can also do yoga with it which is cool
Crusty Goldshark: .. . and go jogging (running on the spot) etc
Pema Pera: impressive!
Crusty Goldshark: The zazen is only 4 minutes so should appeal to the 9 sec meditators here . . .
Pema Pera: :-)
Pema Pera: how interesting to use the Wii to *not* move
Pema Pera: while everybody else is using it to move!
Crusty Goldshark: Yes it is a great system - I hope someone is working on Qi-Ong and Tai Chi
Pema Pera: yes, I can see in what direction future virtual worlds will go . . . .
Crusty Goldshark: exactly . . .
Crusty Goldshark: What have you been up to?

A simple question; where to start?

Pema Pera: oh, many things, both in RL and SL . . . too many I'm afraid
Pema Pera: In RL I'm organizing various astronomy projects, getting them started here in Japan
Pema Pera: and also some interdisciplinary collaborations between computer scientists and astrophysicists
Pema Pera: in fact, in RL in Tokyo I'm meeting more and more SL-related people
Crusty Goldshark: ;)
Pema Pera: Just as one example, in two weeks we'll have an event at an educational institute in Tokyo where they have a huge wall-size screen
Pema Pera: to display Second Life.
Pema Pera: Ah, let me give you a URL
Pema Pera: http://www.kira.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=90&Itemid=120
Crusty Goldshark: Interesting I have most of the parts needed to creat my own large wall screen - just need to put it together
Pema Pera: at the bottom of the page you can see me next to my avatar :-)
Crusty Goldshark: :) yes the wall screen I will create probably will not be such hi res - probably 1052 by 768
Crusty Goldshark: 1028 (is probably what I mean . . .
Pema Pera: they have a 1052 by more than 2000 pixel screen
Pema Pera: on that photograph, extremely impressive
Pema Pera: it totally changes the experience!
Pema Pera: "more is different" really holds there
Pema Pera: sufficient quantity change also changes quality
Crusty Goldshark: Yes this does rather spur me on
Crusty Goldshark: mm m it would also work with the wii
Pema Pera: now you're talking . . . . !!
Pema Pera: I wonder whether those folks in Tokyo have used it for that

From RL to SL.

Crusty Goldshark: what have you been doing is SL
Pema Pera: Part of my SL work is in astronomy, MICA: http://www.mica-vw.org/
Pema Pera: I started that almost two years ago, in Qwaq, but we moved to SL only last April
Crusty Goldshark: They should - the wii uses a controller - much like a laser pointer (it can be turned into one)
Pema Pera: most of my current SL work is in Kira http://www.kira.org
Pema Pera: I can ask them, interesting idea!
Pema Pera: Kira is twelve years old, but only a few months ago did we move into SL
Pema Pera: and we are now rapidly devoloping all kinds of activities. See for example the calendar for January:
Pema Pera: http://www.astrogpu.org/
Pema Pera: well, that is how I got started in VWs :-)
Pema Pera: in Videoranch, where I give a talk as a RL person projected into the VW of Videoranch
Pema Pera: they use Active Worlds software
Pema Pera: that was in February 2007, and that got me started on my journey . . . . . had no interests in VWs until I tried it and found by experience how different and promising it was
Pema Pera: then in April I found Qwaq
Pema Pera: http://www.qwaq.com/
Pema Pera: and only in April 2008 did I move into SL
Pema Pera: and started this Play as Being here too (which is one of the initatives under the umbrella of Kira)

Crusty then pointed me to a set with all kinds of detailed modes of human-computer communication.

Crusty Goldshark: wait I have a link that might be of interest
Crusty Goldshark: http://www.gizmowatch.com/entry/20-ways-geeks-will-communicate-in-future/
Crusty Goldshark: ah yes - used Active Worlds many years ago and found it excellent
Pema Pera: wow, that's quite a bit of interesting information, thanks!
Crusty Goldshark: qwag I do not know - will check it out :)
Pema Pera: only problem is it doesn't run on Unix, no Macs either
Crusty Goldshark: You can run Windows in a virtual machine?
Pema Pera: yes, but I rather avoid windows altogether if I can . . .:)
Crusty Goldshark: yes I use Puppy linux for my tmxxine project
Pema Pera: what project is that?
Crusty Goldshark: We are now a top 10 distro that many have not even heard of
Crusty Goldshark: tmxxine.com
Crusty Goldshark: Open Source Time Travel
Pema Pera: so, no rush!
Crusty Goldshark: I have some interest in astrophysics - dark matter, wormholes, higgs boson etc
Crusty Goldshark: no it is a 500 year project
Pema Pera: is it mostly a web site to share information, or also for active exploration?
Crusty Goldshark: it is a wiki
Pema Pera: did you start it?
Crusty Goldshark: forums are too prone to spam and high maitenance
Crusty Goldshark: sure - my full name is Crusty S Lobster Goldshark
Pema Pera: :)
Crusty Goldshark: We send a lot of time working on ideas that are not yet mainstream - however the yinyana site which housed our mystical elements is now a seperate wiki tmxxine.com/y
Pema Pera: okay, I'll have a look.
Pema Pera: By now, RL is calling . . . .
Pema Pera: dinner time here in Japan
Crusty Goldshark: Which version of Linux do you use?
Pema Pera: I'm using a Mac
Pema Pera: I used to used RedHat
Crusty Goldshark: Bon appetit -
Pema Pera: but for virtual worlds, a Mac was easier.
Pema Pera: Thank you!
Crusty Goldshark: CU later ;)
Pema Pera: see you soon again