Book Review: The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell

At one of the most conservative universities on the planet, Brigham Young University, I was first introduced to Joseph Campbell through a wonderful (and in hindsight, courageous) pair of Honors History instructors that elected to teach history of the world through the cultures and myths of their traditions. It was by far the best class I took while there. I just completed another read of this work and, although the structure is conversational and disjointed in places, was reminded how dramatically Joseph Campbell’s work saved my life and faith from my own mind’s attacks of reason and irrational rationalism. No, I do not accept everything taught by my chosen faith, just as I find aspects of science and other traditions equally difficult to accept. Campbell’s research shows how deeply important to our own mind, heart, and world these deep seated traditions are, and what just might be wrong with dogma and societal interpretations of once pure ideas adapted for less than altruistic intentions. Understanding Campbell allows me to quietly synthesize the best of my core tradition with inherent truths of others as well as fully embracing science and empiricism. Looking at all belief systems both as possibly literal and always possibly metaphorical opens up child-hood teachings with new insight and potential. I find I am a child of God, a child of Mother Nature, and as such carry the stuff of both in me. Read this and believe, no matter your path, not just for yourself, but all those in need of compassion around you.

It will be interesting to how these ‘w …

It will be interesting to how these ‘walled garden’ virtual worlds like OpenLife do over the long term. OpenLife clearly has no intention of staying compatible with the OpenSim developments including the ability to connect to the wider HyperGrid. That said, organic plant life sounds interesting. With control of the server and viewer (despite its legally questionable pedigree) should make this easier.

Zain Naboulsi just topped by biggest BS- …

Zain Naboulsi may have just topped by biggest BS-ers list (an unofficial, unpublished list to be sure). As if all the virtual world evangelists aren’t bad enough, now Zain from Microsoft claims to be “the creator of Virtual Worlds Evangelism.” I pray he meant some organization and not the otherwise inferred noun.  There were people evangelizing virtual worlds while his av was still in diapers.

Come on guys. Do something. Use the stuff. Stop inventing titles, blog bickering, and comparing the size of your tribe.

Love Seth Godin’s presentation to Goo …

Love Seth Godin’s presentation to Google, “You end up not trying to find customers for your products, but products for your customers.”

1. make something worth talking about
2. tell it to people who want to hear from you
3. they do the marketing
4. get permission from them to tell them next time

Great presentation although I disagree with some of what Seth says. Here’s the YouTube.

Twitter does beat Second Life for the ap …

Twitter does beat Second Life for the application they are talking about. Who needs a bloated 3D viewer and immerse experience to build community, network, marketing and friendships–especially with those whom you would like to meet. Such business use was never the primary intent of Second Life (and OpenSim for that matter) and thankfully people are coming to that realization. Still, many do find these business uses happening organically in the Second Life and OpenSim communities where Twitter and OpenSim are working together for such business collaboration. The ThinkBalm community is one that I am aware of that is emerging here.

It has been said a thousand times but no harm saying it again. Use tech that fits a need, not tech for tech’s sake. In the case of economizing on travel, not to mention a dozen other business applications, virtual worlds make business sense.

I am sick of reading “this tech beats that tech.” Hype really is damaging. Comparative hype is an even more potent subspecies. It makes people jump on things for no reason other than hype and others abandon good tech for the proper application.

One of the greatest things to come from the slow decline of sponsored journalism is reality replacing hype. I would rather read the novice opinions of a dozen bloggers and tweeters over a few highly visible, highly sponsored news channels, magazines, commentators, book authors, and self-proclaimed industry leaders and innovators. Vive the meritocracy.

Posted responses to cokes avatar ad on b …

Posted responses to Coke’s avatar ad on both Eightbar and Massively. I am a little surprised to read all the heat around that ad. If Coke’s idea was to generate a little bit of controversy and viral marketing from the online buzz about that ad it seems to be working. I couldn’t stop playing the ad. I love it. Like I commented there

My personal favorite was the super hero ambivalent to the mother in need and the mother texting while swinging her child.

I found this ad a pleasant, perfect walk down the fine line of showing how avatars are becoming mainstream virtual representations of ourselves and the importance of staying logged into real life. Both are critical parts of society today. It is not one v.s. the other.

I often wonder when I meet a stranger in real life what their avatar would be. Just today while walking around the store, helping a few reach things from the top self (like I am of suitable stature to help there, pfff), and admiring all the people enjoying their day at the store buying milk, eggs, cereal, beer, whatever. I do think about what is the person inside that real life avatar. People, in general, rock.

I have always admired Caleb Booker’s in …

I have always admired Caleb Booker’s insights like this exquisite blog post discussing The Anatomy of an Avatar. He particularly caused me to revisit an issue I thought I had settled for myself, text v.s. voice chat. As I reflect back, I remembered some important realities about my virtuality.

By far the deepest, most real relationships ever fostered in my experience in Second Life where founded on voice. In fact, voice became the means of fun times when wife and I and our friends would attend virtual social events and have so much fun talking to other while our hands were busy with virtual surfboard waves, hang-gliders, bouncy balls, or poking through profiles as we whispered about people over our private line. I miss those times. It has been a while. I think it is because I have been in OpenSim regions so much these days and none of them have voice enabled, yet. It will definitely be a good thing. Although I suppose I could use skype, it just doesn’t come as naturally as selecting ‘voice chat’ with an avatar.

However, one of my most rewarding relationships, professionally and personally, has been purely text via chat and blogs. I imagine this is much like some of the more recognized correspondence relationships I have read of in the 1900s.

At the end of the virtual day, my relationship is deeper with those who I have spoken with as well as IMed. Voice not only creates huge efficiencies in virtual collaboration, it is just more natural for more people.

In Nick Wilson’s virtual worlds for bus …

In Nick Wilson’s virtual worlds for business breakdown I found myself wondering why Unity wasn’t mentioned. To me if Metaverse deserves mentioning, which is largely just a platform building kit, then why not one level deeper than that, a 3d game development kit that Unity targets itself to be. There seems to be a threshold over which just building your own 3D application is as easy as doing so on a just-virtual-world toolbox app like I interpret Metaverse to be.

Erica Driver posted a very positive, ind …

Erica Driver posted a very positive, independent, and interesting response about IBM’s integration of OpenSim into the Lotus product.

It has been fun working in the small way I can outside of main job priorities on these projects. I have struggled isolating the best way to contribute more than just conference room chairs, animations and various gadgets. My first planned contribution in 2009 is MoPose 5.0 with full support for OpenSim and Second Life. That will provide the basis of other work creating animations for business furniture and builds.

I was also very pleased to get an AO working on ReactionGrid and will build that into business AOs with animation as well.

I already have many of the animations necessary for gestures, a big part of participation in a business context for hand raising, hand shaking and the like. I will focus on this in the first quarter of 2009 over other work to build out prim hair, skins and other clothing, which has always been something on my TODO list for our internal IBM grid as well.

I absolutely love Hiri Nurmi’s insight …

I absolutely love Hiri Nurmi’s insights into non-technical challenges facing OpenSim adoption.

There are OpenSim grids popping up all over but with what context? My favorite point Hiri makes is about community cross-pollination, for lack of a better term, between contextual spaces. This point is the very reason some decision makers have chosen Second Life behind the firewall over internal OpenSim grids, for now.

Apart from context, I believe credible (meaning doesn’t crash and is free from legal problems) content movement will be the biggest barrier to OpenSim adoption today and for some time to come.

As a content developer (mostly scripts and animations) I have personally suffered through facilitating OpenSim adoption on our internal grid. (Miss you Justin.) I am hopeful but cautious that adoption will progress as stability and hopefully business support is improved over the coming year.

I happened upon this blog post after writing Context, Community, Creativity, Credibility, Cost and am so glad I did.