Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

A colleague sent me a link to a news story today about the dangers of Second Life http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-online-predator-alert-06-may06,0,894825.story

Certainly there is horrifying stuff going on in Second Life that offends my morals. But the same could be said for movies. And how many people haven’t snuck into an R rated movie before they were legal? I live in a major city and every night on the news I see stories of horrifying stuff going on in my city. Would I allow my children to roam the streets? Not on your life. Neither would I allow them to roam in Second Life.

Having said that, there is a lot of good that is going on in Second Life. to disregard that it exists would be throwing the baby out with the bath water. Congress recently held hearings on Virtual Worlds. You may have seen Susan Tenby, from Tech Soup, and Jon Stewart’s spoof of her presentation. Here is a link to a “video” that was prepared for the CEO of Linden Lab’s presentation to the hearings. Note how the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois is using Second Life. http://www.silverandgoldie.com/linden_congress.htm

We need to exploit the technology tools we have for good. There is so much good that can come from virtual worlds.