The fundamental goal of a constitution is to distribute power in such a way that it allows for a fully functioning society whilst protecting the individual from the state. The goal is the rule of law - power under law, not under men. To those who resist the introduction of law into the metaverse I say this: first, it need not look like the law of the real world, indeed it should not look like the law of the real world; second, law is already pervasive in the metaverse, in the form of the ToS document, copyright and contract law, law suits brought in the real world concerning metaverse events. The only way to restrict the impact of laws not suited to the metaverse is for the metaverse to have its own.
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I will attach the proposal I had to write for my project to the blog when I find a convenient way to do this. Hopefully that will explain things with a little more clarity and in greater depth for those who are interested
7 comments:
Why should you be an active Second Life user, you asked in your previous post. How about : to be able to discuss your notions and fascinating, much needed project in world with like minded people ? To gather support for it among those who, ultimately, would need to have it implemented ? I for one would welcome that. Because, though coming from an entirely different background, I share your ideas (see ), and I am pretty sure I am not the only one.
Hi Rheta, I think you're right that I could gain those things from Second Life, the problem I have always had is where to start. Where do you go to find like minded people on SL? I suppose I have been far too lazy with it up until now. It doesn't help that it runs like a dog on my computer.
Thanks for your comment and post on your blog, I'm hoping to be fairly regular with my updates and any comments you have would be really appreciated.
On a side note: how did you find the blog?! I was going to wait for a few more posts and then try to publicise it so it was a welcome surprise to see someone had already found it of interest.
Douglas, highly interesting questions you're raising here. I work on something quite similar for my doctorate.
Have you already figured out how to establish the constitution? Should it be part of a (real-world, that is: state-)law, which puts a restriction to possible TOS? Or should it be applied on a voluntary basis by the users?
(I found your blog by Benjamin Duranskes "virtually blind")
Hi Douglas, Hendrik preempted me :) : Google / Blogger won't allow you to have replies mailed to you unles you log on with one of their accounts.
Easy answers first : I found your blog through Virtually Blind's article « Metaverse Constiution Project Launches » (http://virtuallyblind.com/2007/11/13/metaverse-constitution/).
As to finding like minded people, starting in SL itself probably will not be of help. The blogosphere would seem like the better bet to me ; some blogs have a pretty large and active readership of SL users (unlike mine, which has no readers whatsoever as far as I can judge :)). But Second Life is a wonderful communication platform once you have found a nucleus of like minded people, as it allows for social networks both formal and informal, the holding of meetings and events and much more...
Without in-world feedback, I very much doubt your project will be more than a purely academic exercise, which would be a pity, if not to you, then at least to me and probably many others.
As to the viewer running like a dog on your machine, why not have a peek at the alternate one by Nicholaz Beresford (found at http://nicholaz-beresford.blogspot.com?
..and sorry for the weird links : Blogger mangles the link tags beyond repair when posting a comment :(.
Hello Doug, I'm Antonio from the Metaverse Republic - http://www.metaverserepublic.org Yours does seem an interesting project, and I would like to chat about it if possible. Have you got Skype or any other IM, or even just e-mail? :-) Thank you.
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