Friday, March 02, 2007
Kangaroo Avoidance of The Matrix
Yesterday I agreed to take part in a conference with George Osborne about the social impact of the web; today I realise I am not qualified. This story completely threw me. I had been dimly aware of these virtual worlds on the web, but, on first reading, I had assumed that Republican Second Lifers were some sort of pressure group like Pro-Lifers or the NFA. Perhaps, I mused, they campaigned for the old, supporting their wholesome aspirations for a 'second life'. But no. They are inhabitants of a virtual world in which, as in the real one, there are Republicans. The trashed John Edwards' HQ is, of course, also virtual. The imagination reels. In due course, it is clear, there will be no need for the real political world at all. Candidates need not have bodies, they can be party constructs, wooing virtual electorates with their promises of entirely unreal policies. Or perhaps that's happened already. We are in The Matrix. Am I just too old to accept this? Olive, at 107 the oldest blogger in the world, seems to be coping. I, however, might have to resort to this, not that I am suffering from boredom, rather a bad case of future shock. I'm very drawn to the kangaroo solution.
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A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.
Or, of course, there is the aluminium, deflector hat.
ReplyDeletehttp://zapatopi.net/afdb/build.html
Yes, this is why I like going to cricket matches. Preferably long ones.
ReplyDeleteSee those pics are the dangers of the right drugs but with no accompanying sense of direction. It's a kind of pathetic sublimation of the artistic spirit.
ReplyDeleteThough it's actually all fitting into place. The only conceivable way Bryan keeps discovering such hidden treasures as this Kangaroo Man, is a ludicrously self-indulgent hashish habit. Gurgling away at a hookah, goggle-eyed at the computer screen, sending the kids off to Billy the Scot to score some of the brown stuff; an oasis of giggling tranquility in a world gone bonkers.
ReplyDeleteBeing "dimly aware" of Second Life is nothing to feel ashamed of.
ReplyDeleteI'm increasingly astonished (and, I must admit, impressed) by the publicity Linden Lab is able to generate through sneaky manipulation of its actual userbase figures (i.e. millions might have 'visited' it at some point, but how many of these leave pretty much immediately when they realise what an aimless con it actually is?)
It's a culturally intriguing concept; but more so an amusing virtual side-show as it continues to hoodwink the likes of the BBC etc. into believing it to be some portentous landmark in the grand march of civilisation.
The population seems to be a limited mix of bandwagon-jumping businesses and Nathan Barley-esque media companies, weirdo religious and political factions, and, predictably, perverts - rather like the Internet itself, in fact.
It's just a novel way of fleecing credulity and extremism. Fair play to 'em, I say.
Oh, and I vote to see you 'elk-style' in your next Sunday Times photo byline.
So, why is RSA shy in mentioning your presence? And how did you swing to move it all forward from 13th April?
ReplyDeleteDuno about April 13th, Rebel. Possibly they are shy because of my weakness for deranged satirical ravings - or because thy only contacted me on Thursday,
ReplyDelete