Out Of Touch Egghead To Pontificate on Second Life

Herald founder keynotes 2009 Compass Interdisciplinary Virtual Conference

The Herald's own Urizenus Sklar - who is widely believed to be self-identical - will present a virtual keynote titled "Virtual Communities, Virtual Cultures, Virtual Governance" for the Compass Interdisciplinary Virtual Conference Monday October 26.

Virtually viewable here http://compassconference.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/ludlow/ after the virtual presentation Monday - the virtual keynote will be followed by virtual cocktails at 1 PM EDT at the virtual "meet the virtual speaker" session to be held in Second Life's Abacadabra sim: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Abracadabra/201/90/31.

It's going to be virtually impossible to miss this event, because Uri's real real life typist is believed to be Peter Ludlow - Professor of Philosophy at Northwestern University. He has worked on a number of topics at the intersection of philosophy, linguistics, and cognitive science, and has also published a number of works on the emergence of community and governance in virtual worlds, including High Noon on the Electronic Frontier (MIT Press 1995) and Crypto Anarchy, Cyberstates, and Pirate Utopias (MIT Press, 2001). 

His most recent work, co-authored with Mark Wallace, is The Second Life Herald: the Virtual Tabloid that Witnessed the Dawn of the Metaverse (MIT Press 2007). Reflecting the boundary crashing content of that work, the book received the American Association of Publishers, Professional/Scholarly Publishing award for “Best Book in Media and Cultural Studies, 2007”, was a Choice “Outstanding Academic Title, 2008”, and a Library Journal “Top Sci-Tech Book, 2007,” (ranked one of top 39 science books of 2007 and top book in category of Computer Science). In 2006, MTV.com named Ludlow one of the ten most influential video game players of all time.

Be there - or be virtual!

Comments

[Jumpman Lane]

any chance of a virtual who cares hehehehe

[lame]

well that sounds pretty lame. when you engineer another anti-russian psyop like the "Ban Prok" one that dovetailed into the sion chicken griefing strafing runs then come back and crow. until then... video games, really?

[Urizenus Sklar]

I implore everyone to NOT grief this event. It is serious business!

[pixeleen mistral]

I also beg *everyone* to avoid disrupting this event! please!!!

The future of SL (Suit Life) hangs in the balance now that LL has decided that they will pick and choose which viewers will be allowed to visit the metaverse. Besides, Uri is in a fortified bunker in the upper midwest and tells me he is prepared to meet the challenge of the new frontier.

"We're gonna have a wingding
A summer smoker underground
It's just a dugout that my dad built
In case the reds decide to push the button down
We've got provisions and lots of beer
The key word is survival on the new frontier"

so .. be nice ... k?

[Witness X]

So, it is ok for everyone to grief other events, but not this one because it is you? Yet the Herald doesn't stand up to griefers any other time - rather, you laugh with them, party with them and enjoy the lulz. Now you beg them to not hurt you, but you were privy to their activities, were friendly with them and enjoyed them hurting others.

Talk about calling the kettle black.

[Mexican Pirate]

I implore EVERYONE to grief this event! IT IS SERIOUS BUSINESS!!

lol

[Urizenus Sklar]

Gentle People! In the first case the Herald has never defended griefing. To the contrary it has tirelessly fought back against it since the dawn of the metaverse. The list of griefer groups that we have exposed and pilloried in the virtual press is long and storied. From the Hotel Erotica and Free Money for Newbies scam houses to the Sim Mafia and Sim Soviet Republic to the W-Hats and PN, the Herald has exposed these miscreants and ne'r do wells for what they are and lobbied the game gods to stamp them out.

And now that these griefer groups have been soundly defeated and the miscreants have been sent back to their wee chat boards to fap to hentai, the metaverse is again safe for the conduct of serious business. You can come to this event and thank the Herald for that.

[Mary Elizabeth]

Uri,

You have a talent for writing satire.

Bravo!

[Septimus Severus Legume, Tragic & Misunderstood Poet]

Out-of-touch Eggheads of the world, hearken to my plaintive cry!

Then we can pontificate to each other and our Sion Chickens...oh the misery of life.

Some avatars grief with malicious code and fart-noises. Others merely bring you the grief of an overburdened world that does not appreciate sensitive souls.

I must go lie down. I am overwrought.

[Urizenus Sklar]

Septimus, that is my talk in a nutshell.

[Jumpman Lane]

ok... how bout an actual who cares hehehehe

[Urizenus Sklar]

Talk is up, but they took out all the F-bombs and all the slides that had words on them.

Here you go: http://compassconference.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/ludlow/

[marilyn murphy]

i missed this because it was billed as a serious event. or was that serious?

[Gecko Alchemi]

You can see Urizenus Sklar's fascinating talk here: http://compassconference.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/ludlow/

[Prof. Archie Lukas]

Typical Academic

They create nothing new, nothing useful and society gains (or really cares0 one iota.

Tthis chap is just documenting other peoples work and pontificating on it.

Professor of Bullshit, I assume.