The Pope dissess SL? Oh, please...

Oh, this is ever so interesting!

If nothing more, it is of value for starting a conversation about technology, at worst, it could be read as the Pope herding his sheep back to the stone age. In all fairness, one commenter claims that the excerpt should be read in its entirety. When I find it, I will definitely link it up here for reference.

In the meantime, enjoy an awesome mesh picture of the Pope (alas, the irony) as he expounds his views on technology. I must warn you, it is only one quote, and obviously one devoid of any context that could further explain how this quote came to be.

Enjoy!

http://gizmodo.com/5662386/the-pope-doesnt-want-your-soul-hanging-out-in-second-life

Here is another link:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/technologies+confuse+reality+fiction+Pope/3643380/story.html

Haha! You have to go look now, don't you?

Well, here is an interesting comment by one poster to the link above.

MaWeiTao says:

If you guys had linked to a story of the full quote you'd see that the Pope was talking about the media in general and very legitimate concerns. This is not about confusing real life and fantasy as this crappy linked article claims.

It's about how technology has made it easy to mislead people and allow people themselves to be mislead. He also touches on the trivialization of news. How reporting of an event has become a source of entertainment as opposed to conveying the gravity of that event and turning it into something to learn from.

Given the rise of FoxNews, HuffPo and others it seems quite relevant to me. And certainly it goes way beyond major media outlets and extends to the web.

But don't let the facts get in the way of all the Christian bashing.

And.....

Though trying not to offend anyone here, I found this other comment somewhat trite, irrelevant to the conversation, but very amusing. Okay, now, stop short of shooting the messenger. :P

Snow leopard says:

Man, it always astounds when the Catholic Church tries to make people feel guilty for having a good time, especially considering JC was such a party animal. Half of his miracles revolved around turning shit show events into the most rocking parties ever.

Oh, snap! There’s no open bar at this wedding? Water to wine!

What do you mean the caterer bailed? Okay, give me a basket with a loaf and some wine. I’ll whip something up.

Man, this fishing trip blows. Throw the net over the other side…Just do it, man!

And did the Holy Christ pick apple juice as his blood? Heck no, he wanted people to remember him by tipping off a glass of smooth red wine.

Yeah, there are artist types in SL, who knew?

I wrote the following entry as response to a blog post by White Lebed titled Virtual Worlds: Sex, Lies and Sundance Film Festival.

In the entry, White refers to a film about SL which addresses issues of addiction, sex, betrayal, and escapist fantasy as the main components of SL as we know it. While the creators of the movie focus on some aspects of life on the grid, albeit ones not experienced by all residents, it does once again cast a negative shadow on SL as a whole.

I would suggest and kindly ask that you read White's entry prior to my own to get a broader scope of what was discussed.

The name of the movie being discussed is 'Life 2.o' and you can see the trailer here.

My two cents worth:

While I find a rather distasteful and negative focus on SL to be the norm when portrayed in the media (and I am sick of it), I recognize that ignorance is often the culprit leading people to erroneous, if not outrageous, conclusions.

I came in to SL for academic reasons, but I remained primarily for the arts. It is the artists and their works that inspire my own thoughts. It is having unlimited access to an infinite repertoire of abilities and tools to create, and in ways not readily possible in a RL context, that has cemented my own beliefs about the worth of virtual environments.

Sure, people will socialize to no end. They will find solace to their own RL social needs in the company of others who share affective parallels with them. But they are not the only ones inhabiting these grids. What movies like the above fail to stress is that these same processes, whether they involve addiction, pornography, or clandestine lovers, will be enacted by people whether the context is virtual or real. I have to disagree with those who claim that a SL facilitates deviant behaviors because the the truth remains that some people will perform such behaviors regardless of medium.

As always, the uninformed will be the first to cast the proverbial stones.

Regards, and many thanks for expounding on this matter.

Theo After

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Not much reflection is needed to add that while I personally believe the arts rule in SL (this is my own and biased conclusion), education is making strides in the use of virtual environments such as SL for long distance learning.