Living in a Virtual World

It's been two weeks since my last post and I apologize for that, lately we've been discussing "Second Life" and the world of virtual reality. For those of you unfamiliar with "Second Life" it is very similar to the video game "The Sims" except everyone you see is real, there is a human being behind each animated character so it is very interesting to see how they respond and react to your own actions. We also had a virtual class meeting online using WebEx software which was also different and interesting as well, it was clearly noticeable that more students were comfortable speaking out online than in class. It is much easier to type something out than to say in class, however it was difficult to understand the conversation due to so many different opinions at the same time. But it was good to see what others had to say which we haven't heard from often in the classroom. However, with virtual reality it is tough to believe everything that is being said and happening, who knows what person is really sitting at that computer screen? Everything is either factual, or false information, it is a very difficult world to trust and we must wait at least a couple more years to gain more trust in our technology and the users as well.