DIGITAL AFTER SPECTRUMS

I had a long talk with a colleague about death and our digital lives…it stemmed from an earlier post about Kurt Vonnegut and a question Kevin Lee posed in a LinkedIn thread about what to do about the blog remnants of those now gone. The digital aspects of our lives will continue, at least until the account or medium fades, for some time after our deaths. They can be quite awe-inspiring, like the Vonnegut video, or perhaps dark and sinister as Steve Rosenbaum noted in the Huffington Post piece regarding my trip around the grid. His thoughts on Cho and the Virginia School shootings in stark contrast to Vonnegut’s passing and their respective digital “after-spectrums”- for lack of a better word, and because I feel “spectre” has too much of a negative connotation. Be it web page, forum post, blog entry or avatar…this is something I think will come to startle us a bit as we move on as a society.

It is hard to run from your old classmates now, thus it is logical to believe it will be hard to run from the after images of the departed. I wonder if this is how the families of say- a famous book author might feel.

ON CHO and VONNEGUT

The Huffington Post piece goes on too say…

And as if this week didn’t have enough terrible news…there was the sudden passing of Kurt Vonnegut. Perhaps not surprisingly - Vonnegut did something to make his mark, even in his passing. He creates a clue about what immortality may look like in our new virtual world. As Wayne Porter discovered in his exploration of the grid of Second Life.

So in a chilling parallel, both Vonnegut and Cho live on - virtual media selves that reach beyond the grave. Vonnegut’s immortality is a sign of the web’s power to amplify and archive wonderful creative minds. Cho’s immortality is less welcome, and profoundly disturbing. Would Cho have been inclined to act if he hadn’t known that he could push the buttons of the media machine? We’ll never know the answer.

RISE OF 3D VIRTUAL MEMORIALS

So as we grapple with what to do with our post-human selves as we decay. Threfore it comes as no surprise that memorials (mail me if you know of more 3D memorials) should start cropping up. Unlike the two-dimensional funeral home pages these pack more punch. First we have (courtesy of Point3D) the 9/11 Memorial. I happen to know Liam Kanno, who runs Silicon Island.

9/11 SECOND LIFE MEMORIAL

The build has been carried out by Liam Kanno (in real life: Odin Liam Wright) of the V3 Group. But this is more than just another commission for Liam, one of the most talented builders in Second Life. He was at Ground Zero that fateful day, and so this is of special significance to him. I believe my New York friends will find this site deeply moving, but this was a tragedy of global impact: 82 nations lost people that day. I hope you will agree that this is a most fitting tribute.

SECOND LIFE VIETNAM MEMORIAL

Then the truly technically difficult and exhausting task of recreating a well known memorial in detail- the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. I should note a correct as it is scheduled to open in-world at The Wall island on November 7th, 2007 to coincide with the real life event in Washington DC.

From my talks with developers (OK I have my hand in it), a complete detail of the Vietnam Memorial Wall. I have seen the beta and it is awe inspiring. I don’t think you can quite capture the power of the real thing, how one decends into darkness, or seems too, and then after reach the middle of the Memorial one seems to slowly emerge into the light. These events transpired when I was too young to even understand them (does anyone ever really understand?), but one can’t be helped feeling emotionally bowled over or

The island will open to the public in early November, with a formal unveiling on the actual anniversary, the 13th of November. The plan is locate the island adjacent to the existing Capitol Hill islands, reflecting their location in the real world. The island will feature all 3 components of the memorial: The Wall; the Three Soldiers statue and the Vietnam Women’s Memorial. Information and name search facilities are planned, along with the option to leave virtual items (supplied by Meme) at The Wall.

The purpose is to provide a contemplative space for remembering the U.S. servicemen and women who died in Vietnam. It will be tied into a website that will offer name search facilities, research resources and more. The full list of features remains to be finalised. Evian was at pains to point out that the aim of the island is not political, it is simply to honour those who had given their lives and provide an education resource for those wishing to find out more, with tours, seminars and other events.

IF WE DON’T FORGET

These aren’t the only memorials either. Some are small gravestones, or epitaphs on prims textured with granite, or a poem carved on a random spot on the ever-changing, pulsing Grid. The nice thing about these memorials, if done correctly, it affords people the opportunity to see them, experience them- those who would never have had the chance. No, I don’t believe they will replace the impact of “the real thing”, but they help us to not forget.

If we don’t forget, hopefully, we won’t repeat the same mistakes…I still find it sad that we continually have a need to build so many memorials…where the names number in the thousands, or tens of thousands like the Vietnam Memorial. We should look at them and remember, or if we were too young, ask why they are there.

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