What's the Story Behind The Second Life Logo?

[benchthis]

I see a hand or hand print with an eye, the design appears to be primitive. Why the eye on the hand? Is it a beacon for looking for someone with a eye on their hand? maybe a scar? 

[LittleMe Jewell]

24 minutes ago, benchthis said:

I see a hand or hand print with an eye, the design appears to be primitive. Why the eye on the hand? Is it a beacon for looking for someone with a eye on their hand? maybe a scar? 

 

Found this from another thread many years back:

https://community.secondlife.com/forums/topic/165229-second-life-symbol/?do=findComment&comment=939903

 

 

[Sami Snoodle]

Even further back in time:

http://forums-archive.secondlife.com/120/42/24083/1.html

 

[Innula Zenovka]

And further back still

https://misfitsandheroes.wordpress.com/2012/01/03/the-eye-in-the-hand/

[Sami Snoodle]

I found it interesting that it was Torley Linden asking back in 2004:
 

10-04-2004 15:33

I am wondering about this. If you are seeing the same layout I am, which you probably are, then look to the upper-left-hand corner.

You are seeing a flat hand with an open palm featuring five digits and a swirly -- what appears to be an eye of some sort -- in the palm of this hand. This, of course, is the Second Life (TM) logo.

Also pictured here:

http://secondlife.com/images/logo.gif

And prominently on the splash screen itself.

What does it mean? Does it have symbolic purpose? http://forums-archive.secondlife.com/_imgs/smileys/teeth.png

 

 

[EliseAnne85]

3 hours ago, benchthis said:

I see a hand or hand print with an eye, the design appears to be primitive. Why the eye on the hand? Is it a beacon for looking for someone with a eye on their hand? maybe a scar? 

SL legend I had heard is that it was taken from what is called the Hopi Hand.  You can Google Image Hopi Hand or do a search about it's meaning.

Edited February 13, 2023 by EliseAnne85

[benchthis]

20 minutes ago, Sami Snoodle said:

Even further back in time:

http://forums-archive.secondlife.com/120/42/24083/1.html

 

Neat to see people back then had a good sense of humor. illuminati symbol lol.

[Love Zhaoying]

I remember the "shocking" version!

[benchthis]

9 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

I remember the "shocking" version!

Can you please describe it in a general family friendly way. Was there a different symbol before the all seeing hand? 

[Rat Luv]

17 minutes ago, benchthis said:

Can you please describe it in a general family friendly way. Was there a different symbol before the all seeing hand? 

I think this was the old logo 😮

[Love Zhaoying]

1 hour ago, benchthis said:

1 hour ago, Love Zhaoying said:

I remember the "shocking" version!

Can you please describe it in a general family friendly way. Was there a different symbol before the all seeing hand? 

Sorry, I was not clear in that I was not actually answering the question.

It was not before the logo. 

It was a parody logo, after the actual logo.

Based on the hand gesture known as "the shocker".  (Google is your friend for "the shocker".)

[Bree Giffen]

[Kimmi Zehetbauer]

That is such a classic logo!

[Ingrid Ingersoll]

I think at one point, a while back, all the lindens had a little pendant necklace with the logo on it.

[Maitimo]

This, from the "Misfits & Heroes" blog linked above, seems to be the pertinent part:

Quote

According to the “Southeastern Ceremonial Complex” entry in Wikipedia, “The Hand and Eye Motif was common in Mississippian symbolism and may be related to the Ogee Motif, suggesting it represents a portal to the Otherworld.”

The Road across the Sky

For many ancient North American, Central American, and South American peoples, the Milky Way was the path the dead took to the Otherworld.  The Maya saw the Milky Way as having four arms that spread out across the world.  At the center of the Milky Way, the three hearthstones were placed at the moment of Creation.  These three stones are part of the constellation we know as Orion and they became the portal through which the dead entered the Milky Way, the great river of stars that flows next to the hearthstones.

The Apache believed that Yolkai Nalin, the feared goddess of death and the afterlife, controlled the path of souls after death.  The road to the Otherworld that we call the Milky Way passed over her shoulders.

So…

If we put all of these parts together, it seems fairly defensible that we have a Moundbuilder piece that makes reference to a Hand constellation that serves as a portal to the Otherworld, the boundary between this life and the beginning of the next life.

And it’s the logo for Second Life.  Irony abounds.

I don't think it was irony. I think Linden Lab chose it on purpose for the above reasons

[Garnet Psaltery]

9 hours ago, Ingrid Ingersoll said:

I think at one point, a while back, all the lindens had a little pendant necklace with the logo on it.

I have seen one of those.

[Love Zhaoying]

24 minutes ago, Garnet Psaltery said:

I have seen one of those.

I've seen ads on social media for companies that will make similar "3D" pendants and other items given your logo. Too bad LL never offered these to the public for sale.

Edited February 13, 2023 by Love Zhaoying

[Gwin LeShelle]

30 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

I've seen ads on social media for companies that will make similar "3D" pendants and other items given your logo. Too bad LL never offered these to the public for sale.

/Me has 3D printer ...gonna print you all dem jewelz ...gonna bedazzle you *Blingsound*

#needsleepsorrynotsorry

[LittleMe Jewell]

Or it truly is as simply as Pathfinder Linden said (as noted above):

"The eye observes the world, the hand shapes it."

[Nalates Urriah]

For those of us that came into SL from Myst Online (~2008) this was a familiar symbol.

 

[Ingrid Ingersoll]

15 hours ago, Garnet Psaltery said:

I have seen one of those.

That's the one