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Five Famous Authors do Public Appearances in Second Life

Written by Stephen Euin Cobb

Catherine Asaro in Second Life (August 9, 2008)

Five Famous Authors do Public Appearances in Second Life

By Stephen Euin Cobb

(Boc Cryotank)

“I really enjoyed my appearance in Second Life,” Robert J. Sawyer said, “and I mean that both literally and figuratively. Literally, my appearance was buff, with muscles and hair, the former of which I've never had much of and the latter of which has long been gone. Figuratively, the appearance was a blast: I was there to talk about my novel Rollback, which, in its way, is a transhumanist/extropian novel—about radical life extension. So, I was preaching to the converted, and they were a very friendly lot.”

Five popular authors of science fiction and fantasy have each done a personal appearance inside the virtual world of Second Life during the past twelve months. These authors are Robert J. Sawyer (on April 6, 2008) David Brin (on April 12, 2008) Charles Stross (on June 21, 2008) Catherine Asaro (on August 9, 2008) and the most recent, Kim Stanley Robinson (on January 17, 2009).

Each took the stage in front of a standing-room-only crowd and discussed for an hour and a half whatever questions their virtually manifested, but globally scattered, audience asked of them. Virtual worlds are fun and beautiful, to be sure, but they are more than this. They offer people separated by vast stretches of geography a chance to spend time together, either because they agree to in advance or because they just happen to bump into one another serendipitously. People from any continent can share a passing conversation, become friends, or just sit together in a room and ask questions of their favorite author.

“One of the things the [creators of] Second Life got right,” David Brin said, “is that people want to be like the Olympian gods: they want to have powers that extend beyond normal life, like the ability to fly.” Asked about the attraction of Second Life to its residents, he said, “There's nothing like being able to remake yourself while having all the advantages of anonymity, and while still being gregarious people who are meeting and making new friends.” He also added, “The avatars keep getting better.”

David Brin’s appearance inside Second Life was the keynote event in Extropia for the annual world-wide Yuri's Night celebration. He wore a photorealistic body depicting his atomic-world form, which was specially crafted for the event by the avatar artists Zeroe Auer and Zada Zenovka: the former painted his skin, and the later sculpted his body. David challenged his audience by speaking about the strengths and weaknesses of virtual worlds as places to discuss ideas, and did so while experiencing those very strengths and weaknesses as he discussed those very ideas.

David Brin in Second Life (April 12, 2008)

These author events were part of a series of discussions called Sophrosyne's Saturday Salon, which is hosted and organized by Sophrosyne Stenvaag. Describing it, Sophrosyne said, “Take the fifty or so smartest, funniest people you've met. Dress them as cyborgs, aliens, dolls—everything beautiful and whimsical you can imagine—and then give them an hour and a half to chat with a famous novelist, or rocket scientist, or performance artist. That's a Salon! Boc Cryotank's photos on Flickr and our transcripts on the Events in Extropia blog will give you the flavor, but the best thing you can do is come on by, the first Saturday of every month!”

Kim Stanley Robinson jumped into this spirit of playfulness and imagination with both feet, or perhaps with all four feet since he had his avatar created in the form of a coyote. “I enjoyed the experience,” he said. “And I guess what I liked the most was the names everyone had chosen.”

The creativity people apply to their names is often as wild, beautiful, literary, historical or even absurd as that which they apply to the creation of their bodies: Peer Infinity, Crap Mariner, Mischief Fairymeadow, Eschatoon Magic, Shady Fox (a DJ), Sunn Thunders, Rocket Sellers, Ver Aeon, Gold Carver, Lex Berchot, Isenhand Nightfire, Ran Dal (Randal L. Schwartz), and Universa Vanalten (a NASA spokesperson) are just a few of the uncountable assortment.

“The Salon brings interesting scientists, futurists and artists to an engaged, curious digital community,” Sophrosyne said. “It really is a salon, and not a lecture-style event: we have a Spotlight Guest, but they're part of a democratic, multi-sided conversation with our community regulars and visitors.”

Robert J. Sawyer in Second Life (April 6, 2008)

Naturally, some of the guests had never before been inside Second Life and needed a tiny bit of coaching. Learning to control an avatar using a keyboard and mouse takes practice. Sometimes the results of the simplest moves are wildly exaggerated or even ridiculously funny. “Indeed, I had a lot of trouble controlling my avatar,” Robert J. Sawyer said, “I had a tendency to go flying into the sky when I meant to just turn around.”

Sophrosyne and her team help those guests unfamiliar with Second Life to get their bearings in this new world. The process can start days or even weeks before the event. “In working with a guest new to Second Life, we begin with an email outlining our services, from account creation to avatar design. Once their account's set up and avatar look finalized, we arrange a time to give them a tour of the Extropia community. Beyond showing off a masterpiece of collaborative futuristic design, the tour acts as an interface orientation, getting the guest comfortable with chatting, moving, accessing the various controls and features that help in making their appearance a comfortable and rewarding experience.”

But she’s quick to point out that navigating is not the only thing guests must be prepared for. “Two things take getting used to. One is the Salon format: some people are used to broadcast-style lectures, where the speaker speaks and the audience shuts up and listens. Digital worlds undermine that producer-to-consumer model; level, democratic conversations are enabled by the technology in general and by our community's tastes particularly. The other is the sheer volume of smart conversation: comments, questions and quips fly fast, and if you're not used to the pace, it can be overwhelming.”

Charles Stross in Second Life (June 21, 2008)

A text-based chat format is used for all discussion in the Salon since many of Second Life's residents have no microphones attached to their computer which would allow them to speak. Some residents, however, do not share their voice by choice. Calling themselves “Digital People,“ they actively work to build a personality and reputation that is separate and distinct from that of their physical existence and they understand that the sound of their voice would cause them to be instantly judged and pigeon-holed as to their presumed nationality, ethnicity, education, age and sex. Their desire to build a virtual self that is fresh and new is as controversial today (at least in the eyes of some) as homosexuality was a hundred years ago. Hopefully, their path to acceptance will be less painful and shorter.

Examples of digital people who are active in Second Life include: the outspoken transhumanism activist, Khannea Suntzu; the essayist and speaker, Extropia DaSilva; the lead architect of Extropia (formerly called The City State of Extropia), Vidal Tripsa; the explorer and occasional philosopher, Argent Bury; the chairperson of Extropia, Galatea Gynoid; and of course the tireless organizer and host of Sophrosyne's Saturday Salon, Sophrosyne Stenvaag herself.

Robert J. Sawyer, as tireless as Sophrosyne, made two personal appearances in Extropia back-to-back on the same day. The first, in Sophrosyne's Saturday Salon, where he discussed SETI, robotics, AI, and life extension; and the second at a meeting of the Extropia Book Club for their discussion of his latest novel, Rollback, which had just become a finalist for the Hugo Award. (He had already won a Hugo for Hominids and a Nebula for The Terminal Experiment.) Rob said, “The questions were fascinating, the audience attentive—the real people may have yawned as I went on, but the avatars never did. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and hope to return to Second Life in April [of 2009] to promote my next novel, Wake, which, appropriately, is about the World Wide Web itself gaining consciousness.”

Catherine Asaro said, “I had a great time doing the interview in Second Life. It took me a little while to learn to move as an avatar, but it was fun learning. The interaction during the interview with all the people in the audience was wonderful. Such an articulate, intelligent group! I really enjoyed the creative ways people presented as avatars.”

Her avatar, like David Brin’s, was artfully crafted to resemble her physical appearance, but the options of artistry and creation do not end with body and skin; clothes, shoes, hair, jewelry, even eye color can be chosen to suit the individual’s style, and if desired changed at a moment’s whim.

“We provide avatar creation services for guests who request them,” Sophrosyne said. “We buy commercial products wherever possible, to support creative talent in the Second Life economy. We'll discuss the guest's avatar desires and the realm of options with them, then build and equip an avatar to their specifications. We can turn to contractors within the Extropia community for some special requests, but almost always we can find what we need off the well-stocked shelves of Second Life design.”

“My only problem with Second Life,” Catherine said, “is that once I started exploring the SL universe, I didn't want to stop. It really pulls you in. My curmudgeonly, aging computer has some trouble with the graphics, and that's all that keeps me from spending too much time there. But we have a new computer ready to set up now. I think I'm doomed!”

Kim Stanley Robinson in Second Life (January 17, 2009

Currently held on the first Saturday of every month, the Salon was once a weekly event. “We had to cut our schedule back from weekly to monthly,” Sophrosyne said. “The events take too much time to produce and promote to keep a weekly schedule going. That broke a lot of hearts—I regularly get messages from people saying that the Salon is their favorite Second Life event, and there's just nothing to match the camaraderie and quality of the discussions.”

She also mentioned, “Second Life gets a lot of sensationalist press—just as with the atomic world, the media would rather cover sex scandals and crime than successful, friendly communities working and playing together. If your impression of Second Life is flying penises and orgy rooms, come to an event in Extropia! Everything you see was built and coded by a Second Life resident and reflects our theme of a positive future. We're a secure, welcoming mature community, and you'll almost always find people around to chat with about science, technology and the arts.”

Sophrosyne's Saturday Salon is held in the Grand Meeting Hall, on the first floor of the Central Nexus Building which is the tallest skyscraper in the community of Extropia.

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Places where you can learn more:

Sophrosyne's Saturday Salon

Photos of these events (and others) in Second Life

Free audio interviews with these authors (David, Catherine, Stan, Robert)

Stephen Euin Cobb (Wikipedia, Website)