Friday, February 26, 2021

Philip Rosedale's "Ask Me Anything" on Reddit

 
By Bixyl Shuftan

On Wednesday Feb 24 at 11 AM, Philip Rosedale, the founder of Linden Lab and Second Life (still remembered here as Philip Linden) held an "Ask Me Anything" session. While he was more interested in his current company, High Fidelity, he was still willing to accept questions about "the virtual civilization ... populated by one million active users."

Hi Reddit!

I am the founder of the virtual civilization Second Life, populated by one million active users, and am now CEO and co-founder of High Fidelity — which has just released a real-time spatial audio API for apps, games, and websites. If you want to check it out, I’d love to hear what you think: highfidelity.com/api

High Fidelity’s Spatial Audio was initially built for our VR platform — we have been obsessive about audio quality from day one, spending our resources lowering latency and nailing spatialization.

Ask me about immersive spatial audio, VR, virtual worlds and spaces, avatars, and … anything.

Some of the questions were irrelevant ones, "What are your thoughts on flying penises?" But there were plenty of relevant ones, many of which he answered. Here are the majority of them.


DrNarf

Philip, I have tried your High Fidelity 3D sound many times, and it's stunning. I wonder, however, if you still have dreams/plans for another metaverse? Thanks. DrFran

PhilipRosedale

I love virtual worlds and plan to keep working on them in one form or another until I die!

 

Grimegang_Cody

Whats going to be the next big step in vr?

PhilipRosedale

Typing at normal speed (probably by using see-through camera to show you a real keyboard) is the biggest change that would make VR devices usable for general computing.

Next would be reduced weight and greater comfort for longer sessions.

The 'big step' is simply to get to something that everyone is comfortable using.

 

SenatusSPQR

Hey Philip. Cool to see you doing an AMA. If you were rebuilding a virtual world today, would you be including cryptocurrencies in there? What's your take on the timeline to making virtual worlds so realistic that people start being unable to distinguish them from reality?

PhilipRosedale

Yes I would use cryptocurrencies, but NOT using proof-of-work as the consensus mechanism, since this puts the environment at risk. The consensus mechanism cannot trade units of the currency for electrical power - that is a recipe for global disaster. Fortunately there are many other ways of maintaining a distributed record-keeping system.

 

Trigit_VR

Do you think a shift in consciousness (social or spiritual) could be triggered through VR? Did you see any signs of something like that yet?

PhilipRosedale

The internet (and VR specifically) has the potential to deeply connect people. But it can also disconnect and separate people. The difference is in the choices we all make about the products we build. But sometimes maximizing profit does not maximize public good. We are going to have to make the decision to use it for good, at a cost.

 

TRIZnik

Why do you think Facebook is keeping Horizon so closed in testing?

Could they be worried about anti-trust action if/when social VR starts dominating the VR software market?

(I've been bullish on social VR engines "swallowing" games since at least 2012)

PhilipRosedale

I don't know.

Social VR needs to be larger than one app or company or we are all at great risk.

 

bubblesort

I love virtual worlds, and I've been an SL resident since the early years. My work study in college was in SL.

This probably sounds like a dumb question, but... one thing I don't get is why HMD adoption is such a big deal.

I've used HMDs, I think they are cool, but I can't think of any content I really want to use an HMD for. Maybe a flight simulator, where my head can be another axis of control for guns as my hands control the space ship, but other than that... I just don't think it's necessary.

Why should I make the jump from developing content in SecondLife to develop for HMD platforms?

PhilipRosedale

You should wait until there is a large diverse set of people using HMDs. There isn't yet. HMDs need to be accessible and comfortable for everyone: across age, gender, and race. They aren't yet.

 

VRMeg

Years ago I saw you do an interview where you created an avatar in AOL and jumped into the Sims I think. But your goal at the time was to make it so people could have avatars to jump from site to site. In second life, people jumped from unique created world like the sims to sim. And in high fidelity it was more jumping specifically to a URL. Are your creations getting you closer to that end goal?

Also, in High fidelity with spatial audio, how do you make a grid with entities horizontal and vertical where depending on where an avatar stands, they would sound different in reference to another avatar. Or the sound of a fountain as you get closer to it gets louder. These are all perceptions to make things seem more real as we know it. What will be the new reality we will experience in a virtual world. i.e. what is next?

PhilipRosedale

The hard question, I think, is why we will want to jump between these worlds or share a larger world. Most games are intentionally holistic - it doesn't really make sense to jump between them. You don't want to drive a car from GTA into Among Us. So the big question about "what is the metaverse" is what sort of space(s) we want to share, and why? I don't think anyone has very good answers to this, myself included!

 

mrvladnov

What are your thoughts on the dapp economy right now? From your experience in Second Life, do you see a world in Earth's future where people sustain themselves by making income as worker-consumers in a virtual world fulltime?

PhilipRosedale

Yes: A few thousand people make their living today in Second Life, and that is a place that typically has around 50,000 people online. So absolutely people will sustain themselves increasingly as time goes by from work in virtual worlds.

 

westrajc

Greetings Philip! There is a ton of 'buzz' lately about NFTs and Virtual Worlds. As someone who has created virtual economies from scratch and understands the desire of creators to control and derive value from their work, do you see a future where there is a standard, secure, privacy-focused #Metaverse currency? If yes, how can we avoid the negative ecological effects of current Crypto offerings?

PhilipRosedale

Love the idea of NTFs as a durable way for art to move around and create more income for artists. Have seen similar things already in Second Life, which had transferrable/resellable secure digital assets from day one and a really big GDP in part because of that.

But... we can't use cryptocurrencies with Proof-of-work move them around because of the ecological impact. But of course there are alternatives to POW so that's great. Strictly speaking, a provable NFT doesn't strictly require a blockchain. Web of trust + signed proofs would suffice. But I love the overall progress so far and idea.

 

timf5758

My question is:

  1. Apple is developing AR technologies. Do you think VR will eventually replace AR or do you think they can coexist in harmony.

  2. Do you think VR is essential to virtual worlds? And how far away are we in terms of technologies to develop a fully rendered real-life-like cities that players can join.

PhilipRosedale

I think AR and VR are very different things. AR requires approaches that blend information with the real world and balance attention. VR is the opposite - total immersion. Both the hardware, software, and economic/social/moderation implications are very different for the two.

I don't think VR (if by that you mean HMDs) are essential to virtual worlds. We interact with virtual worlds with whatever interfaces we care to. We will probably never be 'natives' to those worlds through our interfaces, however good, btw.

 

dale_glass

There's one thing I wondered for a while: how on earth did you manage to make High Fidelity (the original, 3D one) happen? I mean, it was a platform that was fully open both on the client and server side, heavily distributed, with a cryptocurrency and made in such a way that made central control difficult. I have a very hard time imagining how one makes a business pitch for that. How do you convince people to invest in something you're allowing people to just take and do whatever they please with?

But however it happened though I'm very happy it did -- there's some excellent work in there, and we hope to keep it going.

PhilipRosedale

Thanks! For a while there (2013-2019) it seemed like we would have hundreds of millions of people with immersive VR devices by 2020. That was a sound thesis for investing in a project like High Fidelity - especially given the success of Second Life in delivering many of those things to the desktop.

The failure of the VR HMD to reach mass-market (I think it is going to take about another 5 years) made it too long a project to keep pushing forward. And this kind of open / social experience would require mass adoption of the headsets.

 

patrapp

What's a good entry point for VR gear that will work with High Fidelity?

PhilipRosedale

The current version of High Fidelity is audio-only, so you only need a browser and (hopefully) some good wired headphones. We work on mobile and desktop, too.

 

Voicebotai

Hey Philip. I had the chance to try out an HF demo last summer and think it is a very interesting concept for developers to build immersive, interactive spaces. I have two questions, you can decide if they are related.

- You oversaw the creation of one of the most immersive interactive spaces to date. Why do you think someone else will come up with something better than you as opposed to just building it yourself using your technology?

- We are seeing a rapid rise of virtual humans along with easier methods for people to create their own avatars and an increased interest in spending time in virtual spaces. When should we expect a new space where humans via avatars and virtual humans congregate and interact on a regular basis and when do you expect that space to reach some significant scale?

PhilipRosedale

I think these are different questions:

There are 100+ apps/sites right now that are trying to create social spaces of one kind or another with a ton of highly specific features for different verticals, like customized buildable objects or shared whiteboards, or avatar pickers. That's a ton of people working on new worlds - hard to compete with them all. But none of them have audio that is even close to doing what we do with spatial audio. So enabling all of them to move forward faster (with our API) seems like the right move overall if we want to see more spaces out there.

As to virtual humans (powered by AI) - I think that AI is emerging as the most important and potentially dangerous area of human progress. We've done work on virtual humans and there are a ton of big problems still - we are very early. Visual representations can still be very uncanny. Another huge problem is bias, racism, and polarization coming through in their behavior and communication. As much as with AI as with ourselves, this is something we must address before moving forward. So I don't think we want to congregate with our digital children,

 

VRMeg

You have been working on sound, curious what other senses might be added in future to make a fuller experience? Many times I wish I could smell a candle, or a campfire or rain on pavement. Do you think some day we will be able to smell things, because as someone create a candle they could add the smell of watermelon to it in creation?

PhilipRosedale

I love the idea, but I think the physics of simulating smell may never be possible.

But an even bigger problem is touch: We can't use our body's largest sense in virtual worlds. We can't 'feel' our bodies there. Our body is basically a part of our brain - pretty inseparable - when it comes to feeling things and moving around. I think there are some ideas yet to try (we built one called 'the rig' that was actually the first project at Linden Lab, before Second Life), but this is what we really need to make work - touch.

 

Badger_Druid

What good things do you do with your wealth, power and influence in the real world? Or are you just another member of the self preservation society?

PhilipRosedale

I give to local charities to help people near San Francisco get by during and beyond the pandemic.

I am also devoted to using both money (funding) and my time and skills to make virtual spaces that are of a benefit to people, particularly in addressing racism and polarization.

I think that it is vital that those who have any degree of influence or power use them now and use them carefully to help steer the world toward greater compassion and connection.

 

zenzealot

What surprised you about how people acted in second life?

PhilipRosedale

Lots! But I was deeply moved by how people came to know each other through their avatars, despite being unable to hear or see each other. I built Second Life with a focus on the 'lego kit' / Minecraft dream of building a simulated world and seeing what people would make, but I came to regard the connections between people it enabled as the most important thing.

 

DaemonBlackflag

Hey Philip! I'm an entrepreneur since 18 (33 now), and most of my successful business ventures reside within Second Life (Fennux, Fawns, Kreatures.)

Do you ever have a vision for something that no one else seems to really grasp? Maybe you find it hard locating others that share that same vision?

If so, how do you deal with that? (Clearly you still make things happen.)

If that's not an issue, what's your secret to attracting those that share your vision? Thanks!

PhilipRosedale

Don't let it get you down. Sometimes you can see something (or an opportunity) that others can't see. When I was younger I would blame myself for being unable to communicate it, or get mad at people for not hearing me, or funding me, or whatever.

Now I relax and realize that we all have gifts to offer, we're all different, my gift is (sometimes) to have these strange ideas, and it's OK if those gifts are not always accepted.

 

Usernombreuno

Thanks for taking questions, Philip. I’m curious what you think about the potential for using VR spaces in education, particularly in support of students with exceptional needs (e.g. non verbal, students with autism)? If a teacher and student(s) can have avatars interacting in a virtual world, I presume we could eliminate a number of limitations we have in the real world. Do you have any insight into who might be already doing this well or where the technology is going in terms of serving students with special needs?

PhilipRosedale

There were remarkable studies done in SL with adults with autism that you might want to look up. A guy named John Lester, aka Pathfinder Linden did some of the early work, but you will find numerous academic papers on the subject.

 

financeandf*cks

What are three core features / capabilities that you would like to see built out in Second Life over the next few years, and why?

PhilipRosedale

I'm not running Second Life, so I don't have specific answers there. Some good recent changes have made it faster at the simulation layer (things like faster region crossing) - I know that is something people value and that I'd like to see get faster and faster.

 

SirNicksAlong

What do you think of Decentraland?

PhilipRosedale

It's an amazing experiment to watch! For simulation, I definitely think that long-term there will be a distributed compute model that makes the physics of the virtual world some sort of inviolable consensus. I'd like to see Decentraland add our spatial audio API!

 

goblix

Have you ever watched Sword Art Online?

PhilipRosedale

Yep. The idea of being 'trapped in the simulation' is resonant for me. I think the 'boundary value problem' of how to make a consistent virtual world that nevertheless is acted upon by outside agents may turn out to be very problematic.

Look for example at things like Stephenson's 'Fall' - where a lot of how the world works is contingent on there being no way to influence the world. Important to think about.

 

MatterShim

Do you think a new virtual world will ever come along with a large focus on creating in the same way SL does? Why hasn't anything come along yet that overtakes SL in that way?

PhilipRosedale

Creating programmable objects that you can edit live in a big world where things can both move and teleport around at will is a really hard problem. We wrote a lot more code to do it than people think - and as SL people will tell you there are still lots of bugs and edge cases. I think this is why we haven't seen more things like it - we were really ahead of our time. I bet we'll see some amazing new projects soon (but I guess I've said that before and been wrong).

 

day7seven

When is Third Life going to be released?

PhilipRosedale

Not in my life. :)

 

DrNarf

Why not do some of this AMA in High Fidelity? It would be a great way to demo the tool for others.

PhilipRosedale

Great idea - We will do that toward the end so it's not distraction to typing fast!

 

 For the rest of the AMA, which includes after-event chatter, Click Here.

Bixyl Shuftan

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Announcement: Rare Disease Day in Second Life

 

Rare Disease Day is a yearly awareness campaign in real life that is held on the last day of February each year.

Now, due to the COVID 19 pandemic, I will recreate this event in Second Life.

On Sunday, February 28th,  2021  from midnight SLT until Monday, March 1st, 2021 midnight SLT, we will have live artists and DJs playing live on our venue

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Tainted%20Island/156/206/2004


What is Rare Disease Day?  https://www.rarediseaseday.org/article/what-is-rare-disease-day

Rare Disease Day takes place on the last day of February each year. The main objective of Rare Disease Day is to raise awareness amongst the general public and decision-makers about rare diseases and their impact on patients' lives.

The campaign targets primarily the general public and also seeks to raise awareness amongst policymakers, public authorities, industry representatives, researchers, health professionals, and anyone who has a genuine interest in rare diseases.

Why is Rare Disease Day held each year? https://www.rarediseaseday.org/article/what-is-rare-disease-day

Building awareness of rare diseases is so important because 1 in 20 people will live with a rare disease at some point in their life. Despite this, there is no cure for the majority of rare diseases and many go undiagnosed. Rare Disease Day improves knowledge amongst the general public of rare diseases while encouraging researchers and decision-makers to address the needs of those living with rare diseases.

Key figures about rare diseases:  https://www.rarediseaseday.org/article/what-is-a-rare-disease
 

There are over 300 million people living with one or more of over 6,000 identified rare diseases around the world1, each supported by family, friends, and a team of carers that make up the rare disease community.

Each rare disease may only affect a handful of people, scattered around the world, but taken together the number of people directly affected is equivalent to the population of the world’s third-largest country.

Rare diseases currently affect 3.5% - 5.9% of the worldwide population.

72% of rare diseases are genetic whilst others are the result of infections (bacterial or viral), allergies, and environmental causes, or are degenerative and proliferative.

70% of those genetic rare diseases start in childhood.

A disease defined as rare in Europe when it affects fewer than 1 in 2,000 people.
Characteristics of rare diseases

Over 6000 rare diseases are characterized by a broad diversity of disorders and symptoms that vary not only from disease to disease but also from patient to patient suffering from the same disease.

Relatively common symptoms can hide underlying rare diseases leading to misdiagnosis and delaying treatment. Quintessentially disabling, the patient's quality of life is affected by the lack or loss of autonomy due to the chronic, progressive, degenerative, and frequently life-threatening aspects of the disease.

The fact that there are often no existing effective cures adds to the high level of pain and suffering endured by patients and their families.
Common challenges

The lack of scientific knowledge and quality information on the disease often results in a delay in diagnosis. Also, the need for appropriate quality health care engenders inequalities and difficulties in access to treatment and care. This often results in heavy social and financial burdens on patients.

As mentioned, due to the broad diversity of disorders and relatively common symptoms which can hide underlying rare diseases, initial misdiagnosis is common. In addition, symptoms differ not only from disease to disease but also from patient to patient suffering from the same disease.

Due to the rarity and diversity of rare diseases, research needs to be international to ensure that experts, researchers, and clinicians are connected, that clinical trials are multinational, and that patients can benefit from the pooling of resources across borders. Initiatives such as the European Reference Networks (networks of centers of expertise and healthcare providers that facilitate cross-border research and healthcare), the International Rare Disease Research Consortium, and the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 support international, connected research.
How can Rare Disease Day make a difference?

Rare Disease Day raises awareness for the 300 million people living with the rare disease around the world and their families and carers.

The long-term cause of the Rare Disease Day campaign is to achieve equitable access to diagnosis, treatment, health and social care, and social opportunity for people affected by a rare disease.

Important progress continues to be made with joint international advocacy efforts for universal health coverage (UHC), part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) to advocate for equitable health systems that meet the needs of people affected by rare diseases in order to leave no one behind.

Rare Disease Day is the opportunity to advocate for rare diseases as a human rights priority at local, national, and international levels as we work towards a more inclusive society.

Rare Disease Day is a great example of how progress continues to be made, with events being held worldwide each year. Beginning in 2008, when events took place in just 18 countries, Rare Disease Day has taken place every year since with events being held in over 100 countries in 2019.

We hope to see you at our event for Rare Disease Day in Second Life on Sunday, February 28th,  2021!

Wesley Regenbogen

Monday, February 1, 2021

Announcement: Help Wanted At Caledon Oxbridge University

 Caledon Oxbridge University is looking for volunteer staff!

    We are looking for new people to take over duties as professors. (New tutors are always welcome.) People who can provide coverage of the times when SL users who come from parts of the world other than North America would be an excellent addition to our staff.  Classes available during those times would also be welcomed by our students, including repeats of classes already in session during the SL afternoon and evening.

-- A brief explanation of COU titles:

Tutors:
    Tutors are the lifeblood of Oxbridge. They are responsible for spending time on campus and providing support, advice and information to all comers, from rank newbies to experienced residents pursuing the answers to esoteric questions. Must have a year inworld and are asked to serve a 6-month probation/training period.

Professors:
    Professors teach our classes. They usually develop their own materials and graphic illustrations, as well as provide supportive extra materials to supplement their lectures.

Friends and Allies:
    There are several individuals who work behind the scenes at Oxbridge, often without formal titles. Their skills and enthusiasm fill many gaps left by other staff job descriptions.

-- Classes:

    New classes are always welcome. Professors receive a L$250 per diem per class session to cover the cost of uploading graphics. Most classes meet weekly, with the same lecture repeated every week. However, Photo Salon, the Animation classes and the Scripting classes, as well as Samm's Building/Texture class have established a precedent for more in-depth series.  Open office hours on some subjects have also proved successful.

    While all applications will be considered, Oxbridge prefers staff members to have a knowledge of Caledon, and its mores, culture and puns, as well as specific Oxbridge manners and guidelines. Part of keeping Oxbridge a safe space is for students to feel comfortable around the staff. Staff is expected to represent Oxbridge, abide by Oxbridge rules and support Oxbridge policies while at Oxbridge and while wearing an Oxbridge staff tag. Visible profile listings should be General. This does not prevent having a visible listing of an adult group if the listing itself is General-rated.

    Experience in another Oxbridge position, such as Tutor, is definitely a plus. An ability to work with other staff is required, as well as comfort dealing with the public, which may require patience as well as an ability to write clearly and succinctly.

    The excellent Professor possesses the ability to tailor class information on-the-fly to students who may be unfamiliar with computers and/or Second Life, may use viewers other than the default viewer or Firestorm, and may vary wildly in ability, basic knowledge and skill.

    On rare occasions, Professors are also asked to deal with behavior issues, ranging from newbies who change clothing on your stage to full-fledged griefers. Fortunately, things usually go fairly smoothly. Oxbridge professors are generally asked to teach using the default Linden Lab viewer, at least at the basic level of the class subject matter. However, familiarity with other viewers is always an asset.

    To apply to teach a class, please write up a summary of the class to present to Wordsmith Jarvinen, and be prepared to create complete lecture materials and graphic illustrations. Some support is available from former Professors and other staff. With some occasional leeway, prospective professors should be able to commit to a weekly or bi-weekly class time (any open time of your choice. The Alternate Lecture Hall can also be used.)  We will definitely consider guest professors who offer SL-related instructional lectures that are timely and pertinent

    Classes about aspects of buying and using mesh avatars are very much needed. It's a large, complex subject, so we probably need more than one class.

    A professor who takes over our How to Buy and Rent Land class, as well as a Smart Shopper's Fundamentals class, will have access to the former Professor's lecture materials (and associated slides?), so a new Professor would not have to start these classes from scratch. However, they are somewhat technical, so expertise in the area is needed, along with the ability and willingness to continually upgrade one's knowledge to keep the classes current.

-- Miscellaneous projects:

    While many of our staff fall into easily defined roles at Oxbridge, there are several people who choose to work behind the scenes on projects that benefit Oxbridge for which they have unique qualifications.  If you have expertise in teaching, writing, foreign languages, PhotoShop or Blender, or mesh bodies, there's a good chance we can put you to work on a project that doesn't necessarily require a specific time commitment or other such limitations. Have an idea?  Run it by Wordsmith!

Creating informational web page content like Avatars Reload – The Oxbridge Guardian (http://www.caledonoxbridge.org/guardian/) would also be a valuable project for those who don't want to commit to a class. We're looking for content; we can do the web page coding.

Contact Wordsmith Jarvinen, Chancellor of Caledon Oxbridge University to pitch a class.  Contact any staff member to obtain an application for tutoring and a Tutor's job description.