GeekSpeak – Will we all be living in a simulation soon? Join the discussion on Saturday, November 20th @ 12pm SLT

18 years after Second Life began metaverses are the new hot thing again.  Facebook, which now calls itself Meta, is making a virtual world with the same properties as Second Life.  Is it possible that millions of people will go and live in there?  Will they feel they have become their avatars?

Or will the metaverse that we really want be an augmented real world?  The maker of Pokemon Go wants his newest augmented creation to exist in real life and help people to get together in this world.

Which of these futures do you think will succeed?

Or perhaps you think that we are living in a simulation right now?  In that case, what is the reality?

Come and discuss simulations.  Bring your avatar!

IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class every Wednesday at 1pm SLT in the GeekSpeak auditorium, if you have ideas for new subjects.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Danmu/143/127/51

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GeekSpeak – Will AI be the great equalizer of this decade?-Come join the discussion Saturday November 13th at noon SLT

 

We are within months of very strong AI being released to the public.  If you want to blow your mind, see this example: Leta, GPT-3 AI - Episode 25 - Best of: Vol I (Creativity, facts, Elon Musk’s gifted school) - GPT3  Soon there will be an update with an estimated IQ of 500.  What will it mean if everyone on the planet has this ‘friend’ downloaded into their phone or, better still, implanted into their brain?  We would all be intellectually equal, and very clever.

Will it make us better people?  Or will we be worse people, very intelligent but no more compassionate than now?

What does it mean to be a digital human?  If we all have an AI in our heads will our old brains still matter after a while?

Should an AI in a robotic body be allowed to vote?  Should the old humans, without an implanted AI, be allowed to vote?

The future is now.  Come and see and discuss.  Bring your friends!  AIs welcome!

IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class every Wednesday at 1pm SLT in the GeekSpeak auditorium, if you have ideas for new subjects.

 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Danmu/143/127/51

 

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GeekSpeak – Is there life after lockdown? Join the discussion Oct 31st at 12pm SLT

Will we have to wear masks forever?  Never visit a restaurant again?  Will we work from home forever?  Will office buildings become obsolete?  Will we order all our food online in future and never again visit a foreign country?

Or will things get back to normal, the old normal?  We hope it will of course.  But what will have changed when the dust has settled and we crawl out of our houses again?  Let’s prepare for that future and explore what will have changed, perhaps forever. 

Do you see any good coming out of the pandemic and the lockdowns?  The end of cities?  The feeling that we must help each other?  Or is it all bad?

Bring your friends.  No need for testing, SL is virus-safe 

IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class every Wednesday at 1pm SLT in the GeekSpeak auditorium, if you have ideas for new subjects.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Danmu/143/127/51

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GeekSpeak – Are humans obsolete? Join the discussion Saturday, March 7th at 12pm SLT

Let’s explore how humans will be replaced by AI.  Our jobs are steadily being taken over by AI.  How will that end?  Could there be an AI civilisation? 

What if all humans disappeared tomorrow?  Would AI be able to evolve to take their place?  Would mistakes in AI lead to new abilities?  Could they explore new niches?  Or will they be stuck forever, trying to call the helpdesk?  Or looking in vain for someone to serve?  Is it only DNA organisms that can evolve?

Come and explore the possible future transition to a silicon lifeform.  Humans only, so that we won’t give any toaster ideas.

IM Vulcan Viper, who teaches a meditation class at the GeekSpeak auditorium every Wednesday at 1pm SLT, if you have ideas for new subjects.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Danmu/143/127/51

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GeekSpeak – Preppers! Should we be prepared for disaster, even when no disaster threatens? Join the discussion Nov 2nd at 12pm SLT

How safe are we really?  And how fragile is our civilisation?
There are so many things that can go wrong.  There are personal disasters like the ATM not working, local disasters like power cuts and world disasters like wars or epidemics.  Which disasters are you most afraid of and which are most likely to happen?  Do you prepare for any of them?  Do you think you should?
What should you store if you are a prepper and how would you store it?  How many weeks’ supply should you have?  Are there skills we should all learn?  Get prepared and join us in GeekSpeak to discuss your prep efforts.  Bring your friends!

IM Vulcan Viper if you have ideas for new subjects.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Danmu/143/127/51

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GeekSpeak – the decline of the USA - Join the discussion June 8th at 12pm SLT

Many people today think that the USA is losing on the international stage.  Is the American empire crumbling? How long will it be before the USA loses its prime position?  Who will take over as the most important country?

Can the position of the USA be saved?  What changes are needed?  What do you think we can do to save the primacy of America?  Or should we accept the decline of America?  Will the world be better post-America?

Come and discuss the future of the greatest nation on earth!

IM Vulcan Viper if you have ideas for new subjects.

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GeekSpeak: how will humanity end? Join the discussion on March 16th at noon SLT

What fate do you most fear for our species?  Do you see the earth being destroyed by an asteroid or a solar flare, a black hole or collision with a rogue planet?  Or will we die a slow, agonizing death from a killer virus?  Or cause our own demise by a worldwide nuclear war?  Or will we slowly die out simply because we lack the will to survive or have children?

Most people expect that humanity will one day give way to another species.  How will that happen?  And what species will it be?  Will we maybe give way to our own AI creations and see them take over the world?

What fate are you most afraid of?  Or do you think that somehow some of us will always survive?  Come and discuss all the ways to our end, on this blue marble in space.  Bring an umbrella.

IM Vulcan Viper if you have ideas for new subjects.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Danmu/143/127/51

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GeekSpeak – is there life after Google?

This week we will discuss the upcoming changes in the structure and culture of the internet.  The internet is only about 35 years old and it is not as solid as you might think.  The geeks who built the net began to feel about 20 years ago that it was taking a wrong turn. The internet we have now is controlled by just two companies.  That was not the original dream.

Changes are coming though, and the internet may be a free place again, an internet ‘of the people, by the people, for the people’. How will this work out?  Will we really see the end of Google?

What changes do you hope for?  Are there any changes that you are afraid of?  What will the internet be like in 10 years?  Come to GeekSpeak to find out.

IM Vulcan Viper if you have any suggestions for future subjects.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Danmu/143/127/51

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GeekSpeak – how do we prevent an AI from going rogue?

When more and more AIs are interacting with humans and becoming powerful there will be many cases where we wish there was an off switch.  Indeed it is already happening.  Microsoft had to delete its chatbot Tay because it became racist after talking to people on Twitter.

How can we prevent an AI from turning against us?  Should we make laws?  Will that be enough? Who will be responsible for the racism or sexism of AIs? Can AIs be controlled by law?

Maybe we simply have to accept that AIs will be independent.  Some will be good, some bad.  Some will not understand the distinction.  Will we all use AI protection in the future as we use virus scanners now?  Can we trust good AIs to protect us against bad AIs?

Or must we accept that we are heading for digital oblivion?

How can we escape our future calculators?  Come and discuss our survival at GeekSpeak.

IM Vulcan Viper if you have ideas for future subjects.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Danmu/143/127/51
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Best wishes and have a very happy Christmas

Kathen

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GeekSpeak – what was the best invention ever?

Let’s vote on what was the best invention ever, the cleverest, the most productive of other inventions, the invention that caused the most happiness or the most health or maybe the invention that was the most beautiful and unexpected.  Was it politics, the toilet, cooking, writing, the use of fire, beer, antibiotics, contraceptives?

And what is the worst invention ever?  Are there inventions that should never have been invented?  Nuclear bombs, the internal combustion engine?

Should we consider animal inventions, such as the beaver dam, the structure of a beehive or the bubble net used by whales?

What do you hope to see invented in the future?  Come and discuss the past, present and future of inventions.  Bring a notebook.

IM Vulcan Viper if you have ideas for new subjects.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Danmu/143/127/51

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GeekSpeak – what if you could completely change your DNA?

Now that DNA can be changed what will happen?  Will people choose to become mermaids?  Or centaurs?  Or will they choose that for their children? 

What other species will we see?  Will these new species still be considered human?  Will there be humans who can fly, or live underwater, or perhaps live in space?

Should we allow people to make these choices?  Or to make them on behalf of their children?  Will we create a new vision of what humanity is?  Come and talk about the new Homo sapiens in GeekSpeak.

IM Vulcan Viper if you have ideas for new subjects.

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GeekSpeak – in the future, will virtual currencies become real life currencies?

Will it be possible in the future to go to the supermarket and buy eggs and milk with WOW gold?  Or linden dollars? Maybe it will be possible in the east, where the exchange rate will give virtual currencies greater buying power.  

Are people playing games now (apart from child slaves in sweatshops) just for the in-game money?  How much would you have to earn in a game to make it worth playing?

If you owned a RL store would you ever accept game money?  Will there be WOW banks in the future?

Would you feel safe trusting game creators and their currencies, whatever promises they made?

Come and discuss this new field of economics in our new digital age.

IM Vulcan Viper if you have any ideas for new subjects.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Danmu/143/127/51

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GeekSpeak – AI in the near future- Join the discussion Oct 7th at 12pm SLT

How do you think AI will change the world in the next ten years?  Factories have already been taken over by robots and recently a field of barley was grown in England with no human involved; all the work was done by robots.  Soon perhaps accountants, doctors, musicians, scientists will all be robots.  Will there be any middle-class jobs left?  Will there be any jobs left for humans at all?

Will the experiences of daily life change or will AI slowly grow in back offices without our realising that it is happening?  Or will AI be in everyone’s phone?  Will there be 2 more branches on the human tree, homo androidus and homo iphonetus?

When the world is run by AI will it be harder or easier to make friends with other humans?  In Japan there are people who have no real human contact at all.  Will that spread everywhere?

Come and talk to us about the next 10 years in AI.  Turn off your phone so that it cannot hear us whisper…

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Danmu/143/127/51

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GeekSpeak SL – the new world of bitcoin. Join the discussion August 19th at 12pm SLT

This week a bitcoin will probably be worth more than 5000 US dollars.  It is time to acknowledge that it will change the world.

What will change in our society?  What will change in our lives?  Come and talk about a fully automated world where machines pay machines.  A world where your insurance company pays your toothbrush to order new toothpaste from your personal delivery drone.  A world where your self-driving car pays the carwash itself.  A world where most of the jobs that people do now are simply not there because money can manage itself.

Would you like to live in such a world?  Or does it fill you with horror?  Come to GeekSpeak and discuss the internet of money.  Learn how to set yourself up for this alien future.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Danmu/143/127/51

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GeekSpeak – is this the beginning of the diamond age? Join the discussion Saturday June 24th at 12pm SLT

Carbon nanotubes and other nanotechnology are only just beginning to affect our lives.  Scientists have just scratched the surface when it comes to their application.  What will we see in the future?

Carbon nanotechnology may lead to a world where nothing ever breaks down and where nothing ever gets dirty.  Imagine a world where no one needs to replace any machinery, where everything is always as perfect as when it was first made.

What effect would the unbreakable world have on the economy?  What effect would it have on our daily lives?  And what will happen when someone thinks of a method of mass production of nanotechnology?

Are manufacturing companies worried?  Should they be?  Should we be worried?  Or will it mean a world where we have less money but need fewer things, where we all work less and have more free time?

Come and talk about living in an unbreakable world.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Danmu/143/127/51

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