Princeton Says Second Life Circumvents Existence
An anonymous person from Princeton thinks that Second Life is a joke, and that the university would be better off without it. An article in The Daily Princetonian says:
“While it is true that a generation of students and faculty has largely been wooed by the convenience of email, the fun of iTunes and the utility of Blackboard, all without serious deleterious effect, Second Life is different. Facilitating the human interactions that positively shape our intellect and enhance our lives is not the same as replacing them entirely with the soullessness of the Internet. There have been rumors of digital precepts. Shall we truly come full circle to the intellectual abyss that precepts were designed to remedy? Do not “virtual” classrooms yield “virtual” learning? We are human beings, not “avatars.” For a campus to be free and open, we must speak with our own voices and hear with our own ears.”
The writer questions “existence” and claims that if Second Life should begin to intersect or usurp student life, the campus will be radically worse off for it.
A Computing Support Specialist, Julia Agarone, claims that Second Life is too complicated for her to even try. In her comment, she says, “I think the University would better serve itself and the public if it took part in iTunes U. Many other universities are already on iTunes U, and I’ve been waiting patiently to see Princeton throw its hat in the ring. Second Life seems too complicated to me to even try, whereas iTunes is easy.”
Pretty amazing how a “Computing Support Specialist” thinks that SL is too difficult, and how she’d like something easier. Her comment didn’t even touch on the actual topic of the story, itself, which (to sum it up) says that Second Life Sucks. “Our senses indicate that we live in a physical universe, bound by time and space, but immeasurably enriched by the beauty of life that endlessly surprises us.” Second Life circumvents existence.
Malignant Narcissist @ October 2, 2007