" What is the Singularity? From my perspective, the Singularity is a future period during which the pace of technological change will be so fast and far-reaching that human existence on this planet will be irreversibly altered. We will combine our brain power—the knowledge, skills, and personality quirks that make us human—with our computer power in order to think, reason, communicate, and create in ways we can scarcely even contemplate today."

"This merger of man and machine, coupled with the sudden explosion in machine intelligence and rapid innovation in the fields of gene research as well as nanotechnology, will result in a world where there is no distinction between the biological and the mechanical, or between physical and virtual reality. These technological revolutions will allow us to transcend our frail bodies with all their limitations. Illness, as we know it, will be eradicated. Through the use of nanotechnology, we will be able to manufacture almost any physical product upon demand, world hunger and poverty will be solved, and pollution will vanish. Human existence will undergo a quantum leap in evolution. We will be able to live as long as we choose. The coming into being of such a world is, in essence, the Singularity."

Reinventing Humanity: The Future of Human-Machine Intelligence - Ray Kurzweil

"Virtual worlds are open by default to explorations and Voyages Extraordinaires, often associated with travel logs as happened in the 18th- and 19th-century Grand Tours, and in Second Life a whole archipelago named Caledon is populated by a steampunk community, which wonderfully exploits the freedom of 3D scenery creation offered by this platform. The possibility of creating original environments allows participants to represent the mixture of different aesthetics which is typical of steampunk, to put together buildings and cities—sometimes floating in the sky, thanks to steam propulsion—, and to visit them in an immersive way, possibly deepening the involvement in this experience by participating in role play dynamics or by enacting a particular character."

"Apart from showing excellent skills in creating its lavish and decadent atmospheres, dotted with Neo-Gothic palaces, mechanical gears and fancy steam engines, the steampunk community in Second Life—dressed up with top hats, monocles and crinoline, and never forgetting some graceful mechanic accessory—sets the rules for its social coexistence also with regard to software configuration: for instance in New Babbage—another steampunk city in this virtual world—they have strangely disabled a recent function, which has been distributed for months in the whole platform and allows for communication among users by means of a microphone; the other communication form used in the platform, which is based on chatrooms, is by no means more archaic or less cybernetic, and by favouring an old tool instead of the new one, this community actually ends up with appearing as a Victorian group mostly in virtue of its conservatism."

Steampunk Magazine - Translated Introduction To The Italian Version of the Apocalypse Guide

In a very real sense, Second Life exists as it does because of Lawrence Lessig. A few years ago, he advised Linden Lab to allow their subscribers to retain IP rights to whatever they built. The result of this has been an explosion of sustained creativity, with many Residents making all or some of their real life living by their imagination and efforts in SL. As I told the Linden Lab staff after Larry offered to appear in world, “This is like Thomas Jefferson suddenly returning to the US to see what his ideas had inspired.”

MG: Second Life recently held an in world meeting to discuss planning and ideas for “free culture” events. What lead to this meeting being held?

WJA: After Larry’s appearance in Second Life, which attracted a huge overflow crowd (easily 300 or more), there was a lot of enthusiasm for more events related to Free Culture, the Second Life group I created to reserve spots for that event. Fortunately, Larry told me he had a great time in Second Life and was willing to do more such projects, so we’ve taken it from there. That meeting a couple weekends ago was one of the first to plan future events, most of which will take donations to Creative Commons through the non–profit’s Paypal account (which has been set to Larry’s Second Life account.)

MG: What does Second Life and the Second Life community hope to grow out of these “free culture” meeting?

WJA: Speaking for myself, I’d love to see a more active relationship between the Second Life community of creators, who already “get” the philosophy of Creative Commons in an emotional and cultural sense, with Creative Commons the real world movement. I would want anyone passionate about a new kind of “rip, mix, burn” creativity to take their energies into Second Life, which is already a kind of 3D wiki built with those ideals.

MG: What can people who are interested in Free Culture issues do to participate in and assist the development of “free culture” in Second Life?

WJA: Well, first get a Second Life account and join the Free Culture group, already some 150+ strong. Within the Second Life interface, that’s as easy as clicking Find>Groups>entering “Free Culture” in the find slot, and clicking Join. Also drop by the Free Culture group forum in Second Life.com (you need your SL account info to get in): http://forums.secondlife.com/forumdisplay.php?f=265.

Most importantly, bring your passion for free culture to Second Life, for no matter what your specific interest, you’ll find others just as enthused. Already in the works are plans for bringing CC–themed film festival, music festivals, art festivals, and more, into Second Life itself. (Not to mention events that will feature Larry himself, in avatar form.) Come on in, contact one of the Free Culture officers, and join the fun.

Article re-printed under Creative Commons license:
Source: http://creativecommons.org/video/secondlife/