Second Life: A Marketer's and Philosopher's Delight?

Attention of potential two million active users (and rapidly counting) is surely something each marketing manager would like to get a pie of. More about this another day. For now here is an interesting page to track (complete with linden $ charts, conversion rates, volume on SL, etc!):http://secondlife.reuters.com/

And here I am sitting alone, with $L 0 in my pocket:


It is always refreshing to think about the Zen philosopher's story: "Am I dreaming about the butterfly, or is it the butterfly dreaming about me?"

There is an interesting story in Mind's I, by Stanislaw Lem, touching briefly on the dichotimy between virtual and real existence:
http://www.usfca.edu/philosophy/pdf%20files/princess%20ineffabelle.pdf

Mind's I, by Douglas Hofstadter and Daniel Dennett, is a real good read exploring in some depth real and virtual worlds.

What ever the reality, I shudder to think that some day Ray Bradbury's "The Pedestrian" will be a reality, thanks to Second Life and the like.