World Economic Forum organizing to do something about the Metaverse.

[Ayashe Ninetails]

Just now, Sammy Huntsman said:

My parents had records, so I got to see those. 

Oh yeah, had those, too! I used to rock out with the Smurfs on vinyl. 😂

They're still around, though. I just bought a limited edition Prince vinyl a few years ago when his estate sold limited copies of one of his unreleased recordings. Because of course I did. More for collector purposes than actually using it, though. No way am I ever taking that out of the packaging.

But yeah, they're still in use. Brand new releases and everything. Can still buy turntables and all that. On Amazon even.

[Rat Luv]

7 minutes ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

They're still around, though. I just bought a limited edition Prince vinyl a few years ago when his estate sold limited copies of one of his unreleased recordings. Because of course I did. More for collector purposes than actually using it, though. No way am I ever taking that out of the packaging.

But yeah, they're still in use. Brand new releases and everything. Can still buy turntables and all that. On Amazon even.

I have some vinyl records, but don't have a turntable  The first four Cocteau Twins albums and first four Felt albums. I actually paid £40 for the first Felt album pressing...but to me, these are the most amazing albums ever recorded, so I don't care  Though I can't afford the first Felt 7", as the singer smashed most of the copies up with a hammer, so it's worth about £400 now  (it's also a bit rubbish...lol)

My mum gave me some of her old records, so I also have Purple Rain, 1999 and Parade by Prince 💜

I should get a turntable...

[Ayashe Ninetails]

6 minutes ago, Rat Luv said:

I have some vinyl records, but don't have a turntable  The first four Cocteau Twins albums and first four Felt albums. I actually paid £40 for the first Felt album pressing...but to me, these are the most amazing albums ever recorded, so I don't care  Though I can't afford the first Felt 7", as the singer smashed most of the copies up with a hammer, so it's worth about £400 now  (it's also a bit rubbish...lol)

My mum gave me some of her old records, so I also have Purple Rain, 1999 and Parade by Prince 💜

I should get a turntable...

Ohhh Cocteau Twins - they were on some of my old goth compilation CDs, lol. And yeah, don't even think about the price. Even new releases coming out on vinyl are super expensive like that.

And oooooo if you like Prince, you should get on the official mailing list - https://store.prince.com/

His estate goes nuts from time to time and releases things he'd probably strangle them for. Yeah I felt kinda bad buying knowing how he felt about stuff like that, buuuuuuuuut - they released a completely unheard acoustic demo recording of his and I couldn't resist owning a copy. Just him and his guitar - no studio. Just jamming out. Limited run.

 

This is so off-topic...sooooooo about them VR boxes!!! Wait - can we get Prince hologram concerts in VR? Asking the real questions now...

[Rat Luv]

(I know it's off topic...but nobody is fighting, so please Moles/Lindens, don't lock the thread...)

Thanks @Ayashe Ninetails, will subscribe! I have an external HD with LOADS of unreleased Prince stuff that I picked up over years, mostly from Soulseek...some of those demos are insane...and the unreleased album from his first band, The Rebels...

But back to VR 🙂

[ChinRey]

9 hours ago, Luna Bliss said:

...

why do we not see all these school shooters in Europe

...

It's because there are no schools in Europe. We're all ignorant, uncultured, illetrate and uneducated savages here. We don't even have electricity, let alone internet.

It also has something to do with the fact that we don't allow people to manage high risk stuff like cars, weapons, asbestos, particle accelrators and social media unless they are certified and have proven they can handle them in a reasonably safe way.

Edited May 28, 2022 by ChinRey

[Lindal Kidd]

3 minutes ago, ChinRey said:

...particle accelerators and social media...

...sticks out her index finger and pushes your tongue out of its hiding place in your cheek.

I'm pretty sure there are lots of unlicensed, amateur-built particle accelerators both in Europe and in the USA. After all, a simple vacuum tube (or valve, for you Brits) is a form of particle accelerator. But it might not be a bad idea to license ones over a certain power level.

Here's just one example: https://hackaday.io/project/165688-homemade-cyclotron-particle-accelerator

On the other hand, any cretin can use social media with no training. You can verify this by simply looking at some of the posts and comments on any platform you care to name. But, like particle accelerators, perhaps access SHOULD be licensed.

[ChinRey]

23 minutes ago, Lindal Kidd said:

I'm pretty sure there are lots of unlicensed, amateur-built particle accelerators both in Europe and in the USA.

I'm afraid there are unlicensed guns here too. The head of the Norwegian Military Intelligence Service is actually in deep water right now because he "forgot" to declare and safely store some old guns he inherited from a deceased friend. There are also people who drive a car withut a license.

But it's still illegal and that limits the amount of such reckless behaviour quite a lot. (It also makes the case of that Norwegian top brass rather stupid btw; it would only have taken him less than an hour to register those weapons and he certainly had access to safe storage space for them but because he couldn't be bothered, he ended up with a 50,000 NOK (about 6,500 USD) fee and risks loosing the security clearance he needs to keep his job. But all this is definitely beside the point. 😉  )

 

23 minutes ago, Lindal Kidd said:

On the other hand, any cretin can use social media with no training.

I meant people/companies running a social media platform. I can't see  a realistic way to keep the sheeple using them from misbehaving. 😉

Edited May 28, 2022 by ChinRey

[Lindal Kidd]

Oh, the people RUNNING the companies. Any cretin can do that, too. All it takes is money. *cough*TruthSocial*cough*.

[Silent Mistwalker]

51 minutes ago, ChinRey said:

It's because there are no schools in Europe. We're all ignorant, uncultured, illetrate and uneducated savages here. We don't even have electricity, let alone internet.

It also has something to do with the fact that we don't allow people to manage high risk stuff like cars, weapons, asbestos, particle accelrators and social media unless they are certified and have proven they can handle them in a reasonably safe way.

Just throwing this out there.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/school-shootings-by-country

Quote

School shootings around the world

The statement that school shootings are a “uniquely American crisis” is difficult to dispute given their alarming frequency in the U.S. compared to the rest of the industrialized world. That said, school shootings have also occurred in many other countries. While attacks in most countries are usually the work of one or two troubled individuals, some shootings (particularly in the Middle East and Africa) have been coordinated terror attacks. Below are the recorded school shootings in different countries around the world.

Note, however, that methods of reporting school shootings, especially shootings that do not result in any fatalities, differ from place to place. As a result, school shootings that were not covered by news outlets (and were therefore left out of global databases that track shootings) may not be reflected here. Also, keep in mind that the information listed here does not include mass shootings that took place outside of school grounds.

 

[alexbluesea]

Inviting Meta as a partner... I suppose they have to, but anyone with half a brain should understand they're not interested (and certainly not interested in playing fairly) in it, if anything their Metaverse proposal is just a distraction

[Coffee Pancake]

5 hours ago, Lindal Kidd said:

We're getting there. There are developments that indicate the form factor of VR equipment will soon be much closer to glasses than the box-onna-face of today.

Still doesn't address the core issue of people needing to find their "VR Legs".

Face brick, sun glasses, lasers slowly burning your retina away .. all for nothing when the puking starts, and for most people it will start at some point. We have a huge aversion to doing anything that makes us feel ill like that and "pushing though" takes a special brand of masochism.

Add in the intensity, VR can be extremely fatiguing, physically and mentally. Even if you're not flailing around like someone just shouted BEES, the mental fatigue can be like listening to music on bad headphones. After a short while most users just tap out, and you guessed it, we have an innate aversion to that experience too.

Technical considerations like field of view, better optics, resolution, latency, fidelity or frame rate aren't a given solution for casual users who can't get over that hump. 

Retail has basically crashed out, the only products you can buy in a store are the ones where the manufacturer is paying for shelf space (Meta, who are losing almost a quarter of their entire income on VR Labs and chasing the sunk cost hard). The price only comes down when economies of scale kick in, and we're not even close to that. It's deader than 3D TV and that only required sunglasses indoors.

Are you going to drop a grand, blind, on an index in the hope better technology just works for you (and then beef up your PC to cope) so you can be a musical jedi or hang out with children in VRChat (wholesome, without the W) ..  Probably not. 

I know plenty of people with the whole range of VR gear (Rift dev kits though to HTC Vives, Quests, The short lived Windows mixed reality gear to the Index), I know a few devs who took prescription nausea meds just to do their day jobs, plenty gathering dust and two(!) who are happy, one who only uses it to play Elite, and one who would live in the thing given the choice. 

My own adult son has a brand new complete Quest 2 he picked up for $50 barely used on FB marketplace, he's used it twice - loved beatsaber, not touched it since.

The only time I've used VR and not felt ill was playing an VR prototype of Tempest 4000 when I met Jeff Minter. Sitting very still, looking dead ahead, twiddling a dial. The final release did not include a VR version on any platform.

Edited May 28, 2022 by Coffee Pancake

[Bree Giffen]

Europe and England have a lot more soccer violence though. We don't have any soccer violence in the U.S. at all.

[Sammy Huntsman]

8 hours ago, Coffee Pancake said:

Trying to tie everything to someone's verified real identity is the dumbest part of all this.

I want no part of any virtual or online space that exposes my RL identity to other users or advertisers, especially as some way to enforce conformity (which will also do nothing to stop trolls)

But here is the thing, parents don't watch their kids as it is. And kids will find ways to access certain content, especially if they use their parents credit card. And since debits that now play as visas as well. 16 year olds can bypass adult walls by using that. So what is wrong with showing off your ID so LL knows you are an adult. Credit cards seem to not be enough. That all being said, the internet is like the wild west without any of these regulations in place. I would be be fine with showing my provincial ID to verify I am an adult.

[Quistess Alpha]

2 minutes ago, Sammy Huntsman said:

But here is the thing, parents don't watch their kids as it is. And kids will find ways to access certain content, especially if they use their parents credit card. And since debits that now play as visas as well. 16 year olds can bypass adult walls by using that. So what is wrong with showing off your ID so LL knows you are an adult. Credit cards seem to not be enough. That all being said, the internet is like the wild west without any of these regulations in place. I would be be fine with showing my provincial ID to verify I am an adult.

Adult verification and non-anonymity are completely separate things.

Telling mister-next-big-metaverse your RL info so they can file paperwork to say you're over 18, fine, but probably a bit overboard.

Letting them then turn around and sell personalized info to advertisers, and forcing you to announce your real name to random internet stalkers? No deal.

[Coffee Pancake]

1 minute ago, Sammy Huntsman said:

I would be be fine with showing my provincial ID to verify I am an adult.

We had that in SL for years, it was dropped in favor of a checkbox .. maybe it was a lot of work with little benefit, maybe the checkbox is more accurate.

Which isn't really the same as my point, would you use SL if your account names was your actual LEGAL NAME, or there was some easy way to look up your LEGAL NAME regardless of what you called yourself in world?

How would that change your behavior in SL? How would you feel knowing some people were managing to get in with a FAKE NAME and those people broke all the other rules too? What if your LEGAL NAME and your gender identity didn't match, are you ok with the world knowing your DEAD NAME? Are you ok with groups of users keeping track of name changes and new accounts with the sole purpose of outing people (because they will). Are you comfortable being in SL with a LEGAL NAME showing up in google? How about a FAKE NAME account that uses your LEGAL NAME and other RL details to subtly defame you .. with no recourse because they too passed the name tests? 

[Alwin Alcott]

1 hour ago, Sammy Huntsman said:

 I would be be fine with showing my provincial ID to verify I am an adult.

but show it how? .. just upload? .. that won't be anymore secure as adding  CC details.
Live vid chat?, nobody at LL has time to check all new and existing sign ups if they are who they say/uploaded.
 

 

1 hour ago, Sammy Huntsman said:

But here is the thing, parents don't watch their kids as it is. And kids will find ways to access certain content, especially if they use their parents credit card. 

I think this problem is only very partly to be put on the "providers" of content. Its much more a modern problem, that "providers" (schools, internet, social clubs) are seen by the parents as a sort of kindergarten to raise them to adults. While it's mainly their job, or at least monitor that closely.

[StarlanderGoods]

3 hours ago, Bree Giffen said:

Europe and England have a lot more soccer violence though. We don't have any soccer violence in the U.S. at all.

People get punched a lot in soccer related violence, but not that many deaths.  Now imagine if every hooligan was carrying a gun, and had an automatic rifle waiting for him at home or in his car, it would be a massacre.

In this case, sucking at soccer (football) is actually a blessing for the U.S.

[sirhc DeSantis]

2 hours ago, StarlanderGoods said:

People get punched a lot in soccer related violence, but not that many deaths.  Now imagine if every hooligan was carrying a gun, and had an automatic rifle waiting for him at home or in his car, it would be a massacre.

In this case, sucking at soccer (football) is actually a blessing for the U.S.

Ah those were the days. Still have my 'you have been visited' card from The ICF (79 vintage). Kids today eh..

On the WEF topic - too late. Anyone can start a 'grid' for want of a better word or anything else. The masses are what the WEF are after. So we just niche it. That is what we are. And an extremely open one. That box falsely blamed on Pandora has not only been opened its in so many bits even an Ikea key will not help.
Rosedale speaking makes sense. He is very good at making things happen and getting others to carry things out which is why I am here. Why SL is here.
As for the rest - well ever been to an industry convention? There are always the usual suspects. They have middle management who live on that stuff.

[Silent Mistwalker]

10 hours ago, Sammy Huntsman said:

But here is the thing, parents don't watch their kids as it is. 

Parents canNOT watch their kids 24/7. Most parents DO keep a very close eye on their kids. Some of them are watching their kids too closely.

People keep making blanket statements like parents don't watch their kids or the US is the only country where school shootings occur. THOSE ARE LIES. And you (general) know it when you type or say it, but you do it anyway, then you wonder why the world and humans are so effed up. 

 

We've also been through having to verify ID with LL once already. That didn't work out either.

Edited May 28, 2022 by Silent Mistwalker

[Luna Bliss]

16 hours ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

17 hours ago, Luna Bliss said:

I caution you, out of an abundance of care for your well-being, it is time to begin evaluating prospective new roommates in detail:

Expand  

Gah that looks so ridiculous. Am I the only one who finds that totally ridiculous? 

lol it does look funny from the outside. You should google 'VR dancing gif' to get a better laugh. My gif wouldn't post as it was too big and I was too lazy to reduce it.

I actually do like VR though, and play many games using it. I like experiences better though, like travelling to other RL locations in the world -- it really feels like I'm there!

I just got a request for a more realistic type of environmental region in SL, and their address was provided so I can use Google maps to actually view what the place looks like.

But a Metaverse in VR?  Could be interesting, but I have mixed feelings about it.

[Sammy Huntsman]

8 minutes ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

Parents canNOT watch their kids 24/7. Most parents DO keep a very close eye on their kids. Some of them are watching their kids too closely.

What I mean parents can't solely rely on TVs tablets Computers or Consoles to do that for them. I mean the number of kids with devices is ridiculous. I am not saying watch them 24/7. But make sure they monitor what they are doing on their devices. Put some sort of app or program that does it or blocks them from certain sites. I am not blaming the lack of parenting to the reason for Mass shootings. And actually, Norway tops the charts for mass shootings. But that is beyond the point. Parents seem to rely on devices to watch their kids. 

[Luna Bliss]

14 hours ago, ChinRey said:

23 hours ago, Luna Bliss said:

...

why do we not see all these school shooters in Europe

...

It also has something to do with the fact that we don't allow people to manage high risk stuff like cars, weapons, asbestos, particle accelrators and social media unless they are certified and have proven they can handle them in a reasonably safe way.

Europeans on average seem to trust the government and its regulations to a greater degree. However in the US we are being ruled by the 'tyranny of the minority' atm, very untrusting of government and its regulations, and legislation is unable to move forward in many cases if it's against what this minority wants due to how our governmental system is structured (regarding issues such as gun control, abortion, and more). It will be interesting to see if the majority can wrest back control, restructure the way the government operates so this isn't such a problem anymore, and how it all plays out regarding the future regulation of the internet/metaverse.  
It does seem, as you read what the OP posted along with other articles, that they want to emphasize a G-rated metaverse, safe for children. This doesn't bode well for SL in the coming years, even as a standalone space apart from the Metaverse.

Regarding gun regulation, guns are now a part of the 'cowboy gun culture' in the US now and are a prominent part of the minority identity, giving them the sense of belonging to a tribe, much the same as not wearing a mask became a core part of their identity. When this deep identification happens and the issue is framed as "freedom" it's difficult to counter.

A Historian, Heather Cox Richardson, explains the 'tyranny of the minority' gripping the US now, especially as it relates to gun control:
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-24-2022?s=r
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoMvvKuw2oQ

I like what Henry A. Giroux has to say about it too, how we need to change the deeper structure of life in the US:
https://truthout.org/articles/to-end-mass-shootings-we-need-to-change-the-deeper-structure-of-life-in-the-us/

Another Historian, an expert in authoritarianism, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, makes an interesting read as well, explaining how America's gun culture is priming us for authoritarianism:
https://lucid.substack.com/p/mass-shootingslucid-q-and-a-may-27?s=r
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/10/26/gun-violence-authoritarianism-normalization/

[Sammy Huntsman]

2 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

Europeans on average seem to trust the government and its regulations to a greater degree. However in the US we are being ruled by the 'tyranny of the minority' atm, very untrusting of government and its regulations, and legislation is unable to move forward in many cases if it's against what this minority wants due to how our governmental system is structured (regarding issues such as gun control, abortion, and more). It will be interesting to see if the majority can wrest back control, restructure the way the government operates so this isn't such a problem anymore, and how it all plays out regarding the future regulation of the internet/metaverse.  
It does seem, as you read what the OP posted along with other articles, that they want to emphasize a G-rated metaverse, safe for children. This doesn't bode well for SL in the coming years, even as a standalone space apart from the Metaverse.

Regarding gun regulation, guns are now a part of the 'cowboy gun culture' in the US now and are a prominent part of the minority identity, giving them the sense of belonging to a tribe, much the same as not wearing a mask became a core part of their identity. When this deep identification happens and the issue is framed as "freedom" it's difficult to counter.

A Historian, Heather Cox Richardson, explains the 'tyranny of the minority' gripping the US now, especially as it relates to gun control:
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-24-2022?s=r
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoMvvKuw2oQ

I like what Henry A. Giroux has to say about it too, how we need to change the deeper structure of life in the US:
https://truthout.org/articles/to-end-mass-shootings-we-need-to-change-the-deeper-structure-of-life-in-the-us/

Another Historian, an expert in authoritarianism, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, makes an interesting read as well, explaining how America's gun culture is priming us for authoritarianism:
https://lucid.substack.com/p/mass-shootingslucid-q-and-a-may-27?s=r
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/10/26/gun-violence-authoritarianism-normalization/

There is something definitely wrong with the US government,  if you need a ministry of truth to basically regulate what happens on the internet. I mean we deal with that here in Canada, us Canadians are getting fed up with Trudeau. I mean yeah he has done some good. But some of his bills come off tyrannical. 

[Silent Mistwalker]

3 minutes ago, Sammy Huntsman said:

What I mean parents can't solely rely on TVs tablets Computers or Consoles to do that for them. I mean the number of kids with devices is ridiculous. I am not saying watch them 24/7. But make sure they monitor what they are doing on their devices. Put some sort of app or program that does it or blocks them from certain sites. I am not blaming the lack of parenting to the reason for Mass shootings. And actually, Norway tops the charts for mass shootings. But that is beyond the point. Parents seem to rely on devices to watch their kids. 

That may have been what you meant but it is not what you said. What you said did not mean any of what you say here.

I'm not talking about mass shootings, only school shootings. The FBI may lump them together, I do not.

[Sammy Huntsman]

Just now, Silent Mistwalker said:

That may have been what you meant but it is not what you said. What you said did not mean any of what you say here.

I'm not talking about mass shootings, only school shootings. The FBI may lump them together, I do not.

In most school shootings, the kids were bullied to the point they snapped or they had ***** parents. A good example, the Uvalde shooter had an abusive mother and was bullied. I mean I would like to see better and more accessible mental health supports for troubled youth and adults.