160 Environments of intelligence
of accomplishing that task in the first place (Shah and Breazeal 2010). In the currently most advanced approach to this kind of informational convergence in a
social robotics study, a robot was enabled to purposefully manipulate the human
subject’s mental states in the course of interaction (Gray and Breazeal 2014). This
task was accomplished by modelling human cognitive states in real time by proxy
of the (intended or unintended) effects of a given interaction, and by accounting
for the human counterpart’s perspective of that situation. For example the robot’s
task was to grasp whether his human counterpart still sees some object, or whether
he may still believe that it is present, after it has been moved. The resulting model
was then used for cooperative or deceptive purposes by the robot. The common
reference point for both partners in that interaction is the environmentally embedded information that is or would be available to the human subject – and it will
remain so even if the robot’s task is to deceive him or her, and hence to make his
or her informational environment more opaque.
Second Life
By its very nature, Second Life (SL) is a testbed for emerging modes of mediated
interaction between human beings within a genuinely artificial environment. All
of these modes revolve around some kind of impersonation by means of controlling avatars that inhabit this environment. Within a few years of operation since
2003, Second Life became the paradigm virtual world, and at any rate it is second
only to World of Warcraft in terms of membership and server space (although
its popularity has been waning after the SL hype’s culmination in 2007). However, an ambiguity in its ontological status already becomes palpable in attempts
at classification. While, at first sight, Second Life may be filed under Massively
Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs), again along with World of
Warcraft, it is also being referred to as a multi-user virtual environment (MUVE;
Mennecke et al. 2008). Most likely, it is both at once. What it is to its users or “residents” does ultimately depend not as much on definitions or pre-existent rules
as it does on the ways in which the residents play or act in this world, and the
constraints imposed by the design of that world. SL may count as a particularly
malleable informational environment of the simulated kind.
Most basically, the environment of Second Life is a three-dimensional virtual
space rendered on a two-dimensional screen. In this space, besides moving around
in all directions by using a menu, the keyboard or on-screen buttons, a number
of activities is possible: In the first place, an avatar will have to be chosen that
moves and is interacted with in SL. Its appearance may be changed in a multitude
of ways, and a profile may be created describing the SL persona’s interests but,
optionally, also providing information about his or her real-life (RL) self. In terms
of in-world communication, local chat and instant messaging functions are available, which are normally operated by keyboard, as well as social network functions
are present, including the options of “friending”, creating and joining groups –
however, always under the veil of the avatar’s identity. An activity particular and,
in fact, constitutive, to SL consists in creating digital items, such as buildings or
of accomplishing that task in the first place (Shah and Breazeal 2010). In the currently most advanced approach to this kind of informational convergence in a
social robotics study, a robot was enabled to purposefully manipulate the human
subject’s mental states in the course of interaction (Gray and Breazeal 2014). This
task was accomplished by modelling human cognitive states in real time by proxy
of the (intended or unintended) effects of a given interaction, and by accounting
for the human counterpart’s perspective of that situation. For example the robot’s
task was to grasp whether his human counterpart still sees some object, or whether
he may still believe that it is present, after it has been moved. The resulting model
was then used for cooperative or deceptive purposes by the robot. The common
reference point for both partners in that interaction is the environmentally embedded information that is or would be available to the human subject – and it will
remain so even if the robot’s task is to deceive him or her, and hence to make his
or her informational environment more opaque.
Second Life
By its very nature, Second Life (SL) is a testbed for emerging modes of mediated
interaction between human beings within a genuinely artificial environment. All
of these modes revolve around some kind of impersonation by means of controlling avatars that inhabit this environment. Within a few years of operation since
2003, Second Life became the paradigm virtual world, and at any rate it is second
only to World of Warcraft in terms of membership and server space (although
its popularity has been waning after the SL hype’s culmination in 2007). However, an ambiguity in its ontological status already becomes palpable in attempts
at classification. While, at first sight, Second Life may be filed under Massively
Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs), again along with World of
Warcraft, it is also being referred to as a multi-user virtual environment (MUVE;
Mennecke et al. 2008). Most likely, it is both at once. What it is to its users or “residents” does ultimately depend not as much on definitions or pre-existent rules
as it does on the ways in which the residents play or act in this world, and the
constraints imposed by the design of that world. SL may count as a particularly
malleable informational environment of the simulated kind.
Most basically, the environment of Second Life is a three-dimensional virtual
space rendered on a two-dimensional screen. In this space, besides moving around
in all directions by using a menu, the keyboard or on-screen buttons, a number
of activities is possible: In the first place, an avatar will have to be chosen that
moves and is interacted with in SL. Its appearance may be changed in a multitude
of ways, and a profile may be created describing the SL persona’s interests but,
optionally, also providing information about his or her real-life (RL) self. In terms
of in-world communication, local chat and instant messaging functions are available, which are normally operated by keyboard, as well as social network functions
are present, including the options of “friending”, creating and joining groups –
however, always under the veil of the avatar’s identity. An activity particular and,
in fact, constitutive, to SL consists in creating digital items, such as buildings or