Chapter 03: the Beginnings

    Table of contents
    No headers

    Version as of 11:51, 10 Jan 2025

    to this version.

    Return to Version archive.

    View current version

    A Tibetan monk came to the United States and took on a young student. The teacher, Tarthang Tulku, was interested in adapting the tradtional teachings of Tibetan Buddhism to modern culture. The young student wrote a book for the teacher toward that goal. The book was taken up and read by a young astrophysicist who was thinking along similar lines. Eventually, the young student, Steven Tainer, met the reader, Piet Hut, and began a long collaboration. They are a formidable team. Piet Hut is a visionary with a tremendous energy while Steven Tainer is more measured, carefully evaluating each  initiative. There were a number of initiatives before Play as Being. The book was Tarthang Tulku, Time, Space & Knowledge: A New Vision of Reality. The phrase "play as being" came from the book.

    Piet Hut has manged to mix an interest in virtual words, astronomy, interdisciplinary studies and Being, finding common ground in exploring communication among scholars, academicians, students and lay people. One of the means to do this is the Kira Organization which began with summer "camp" for students and scientists and now is the umbrella organization for all the initiatives.

    Before Play as Being was "Ways of Knowing" or "WoK" that was in QWAQ, a very different kind of virtual world. QWAQ (http://qwaq.com) is a company that provides a ready-made environment for groups to meet in the virtual world. It is wast to import presentation materials. QWAQ allows anything on a participant's computer screen, including movies, to be projected on to the wall. Blackboards also are available. For a time, the avatars were rectangles with squares for heads above and voice was the main venue of communication although chat was used to ask questions that could be answered when the speaker was ready.

    Most importantlly QWAQ was a laboratory in which the basic ideas for Play as Being where worked out. The main differences were the medium and one major idea, stopping every fifteen minutes for nine seconds.

    Most of this story is told in a document by Piet Hut, an interview and three PaB sessions in which Pema (Piet) and Stim (Steven) discussed their thinking as these events unfolded.

    Second Life

    ______________________

    For Background Before Second Life:

    See Virtual Laboratories and Virtual Worlds by Piet Hut http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0712/0712.1655v1.pdf

    File:C:/DOCUME~1/ARTHIS~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/moz-screenshot-3.jpg

     see Ways of Knowing Website http://wok.kira.org/

    Pema and Stim discuss the Prehistory in the following three sessions:

    Prehistory of PaB Dialogues #1: Pema and Stim:

    http://playasbeing.wik.is/Chat_Logs/2008/12/2008.12.30_Prehistory_of_PaB_Dialogues_%231%3a_Pema_and_Stim

    Prehistory of PaB Dialogues #2: Pema and Stim:

    http://playasbeing.wik.is/Chat_Logs/2009/01/2009.01.06_13%3a00_-_Prehistory_of_PaB_Dialogues_%232%3a_Pema_and_Stim

    Prehistory of PaB Dialogues #3: Pema and Stim:

      http://playasbeing.wik.is/Chat_Logs/2009/01/2009.01.13_13%3a00_-_Prehistory_of_PaB_Dialogues_%233%3a_Pema_and_Stim

    Piet Talks about his Entry into Second Life and other Virtual World Experiences and Entry into Second Life leading up toe Play as Being:

    Exploring Reality in Virtual Worlds...an Interview with Piet Hut
    http://www.ugotrade.com/2008/01/15/exploring-reality-in-virtual-worlds-with-piet-hut/

    How PaB started:

    http://playasbeing.wik.is/Chat_Logs/2008/04/2008.04.27_19%3a00_-_How_it_All_Started
    Powered by MindTouch Core