The local zoning authority objects to the location of our building in Second Life because the building glows too much with too much activity, so we are going to have to move. Is there no freedom anywhere on the planet?
Source link: http://archive.mises.org/15811/this-you-wont-believe/
This you won’t believe
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Can you build a nuclear power plant in its place?
Or maybe a garbage dump?
I’ll bet there’s not a one there, anywhere.
If you read the End User License Agreement of 2nd life carefully, you will notice that the endless bla bla and gobble-dy-gook legalese means the following.
We, Linden Labs, are GOD, we can do whatever we want for any reason and even for no reason. We reserve the right to seize your Linden Dollars for any reason even for no reason at any time and you agree to further compensate us in real US dollars should we ever require you to. We can terminate your account at anytime, for any reason, even for no reason and we can seize your assets and demand further payment in real us currency for any reason even for no reason and you agree to pay up in case we ask.
I hate lengthy legal disclaimers and license agreements of software company.
I’m sorry to disappoint you Mr. Tucker, but Linden Labs is a privately owned company and if you read their license agreement carefully, you will understand that you have absolutely NO virtual property rights in 2nd Life. All belongs to Linden Labs.
At first, I was thrilled with the prospect of doing business in 2nd Life, but when I read the license agreement, I realized that it basically means that Linden Labs is God and I am nothing so I refused to partake in the 2nd Life adventure.
I should start my own 3rd Life adventure where people will truly be free, truly own their virtual property and truly get to buy and sell what they want and keep their proceeds.
2nd Life is absolutely anti-libertarian and uses the full power of the state to basically remove all the rights of it’s users.
By state I mean the real 1st life state.
Don’t they also debase their currency?
I thought they pegged their currency to the “1st life” US Dollar, so that means (if I’m right) that the Federal Reserve debases their currency as well!
The Second Life currency is Linden Dollars. Recently, the exchange rate tends to float around 250-270 Linden Dollars equalling $1 US.
Interestingly, there have actually been bank runs in Second Life due to certain banks running reckless fractional reserves. I think that with time, had Second Life left banking alone, the banks would have learned to be more frugal. But I hear they’ve set up a bunch of rules for banks since then.
http://www.economist.com/node/9661900?story_id=9661900
http://www.pantagraph.com/business/article_3070f21e-bc11-54b3-9ff1-7d7c9e71b4af.html
This is probably one of the weirdest things I have ever read.O_O Kinda puts life in perspective though
The Second Life forex/bank run incident is pretty cool as I think it illustrates pretty well that even in a fake and simulated world, economics still exists.
How is this a state action? It’s a virtual world hosted on Linden Labs’ servers (their private property).
Update. It seems that we are moving to a Thai-based sim. They like us more.
Time to seastead in 2nd life!
Why doesn’t someone set up different virtual libertarian versions of their homelands? You could set up Rothbardia- a virtual anarcho-capitalist version of what the USA could look like in a year’s time, if all the states adopted your views today. Someone else could set up a virtual minarchic version, etc. We could all be tourists in virtual futures! Instead of L. Niel Smith moving to a real Confederation, he could try out a practice one, and see if he does like it.
“Rothbardia- a virtual anarcho-capitalist version of what the USA could look like in a year’s time, if all the states adopted your views today.”
Wasn’t that called “Bioshock”?
No, because Bioshock was devoid of economics and all characters had little to no respect for people’s property rights.
I realize you say what you say because one of the main characters was Randian inspired. Ayn Rand had some great things to say but also had major problems. With that said, the makers completely went off the edge with anything Rand believed. Through the character, basically devolved her philosophy into a deranged Machiavellian nihilism.
Since I’m in charge of Mises SL, I should explain —
The land I was renting was not from Linden Labs. It was from another private land management company that does business in Second Life. The company has its own “covenant” that applied to the land, which apparently included a provision regarding how “bright” the exterior could be. I didn’t realize the building violated this until I received a note from someone at the management company.
However, since I like the building as-is, I decided to search for another land where the brightness wouldn’t be an issue. Luckily I found a nice parcel that’s actually a little cheaper, so I moved the building about an hour ago. Unlike real life, the “crisis” here was easily averted while respecting everyone’s rights.
I’m glad things turned out okay.
Imagine someone creating a 3rd Life which would itself be embedded in 2nd Life, LOL !!!
>respecting everyone’s rights.
But there are none. This is just software, and the only “rights” would be IP rights, which we don’t do.
On another tack, can’t the visualization software manage this?
The virtual zoning nazis will see a standard non-bright bourgeois house, while everyone else will see a glowing McMansion with scantily-clad babes in lounge chairs. How about that?
And furthermore, why are there Streets in a virtual world. For frack’s sake…
because it attempts to simulate actual human life?
Incorrect. The rights in this case aren’t IP, but physical data storage on a server. That land can be copied onto a parcel of virtual land owned by Mises, but Mises can’t occupy the server storage space without following the rules of the space owner. What is being purchased and owned are individual magnetic sectors of a hard disk (or NAND cells if SSDs become more common), which are physical, real, and cannot be used for multiple purposes (the Mises Institute and some other use cannot occupy the same HD sector).
Just because storage space is plentiful doesn’t mean it isn’t scarce and doesn’t operate under the principles of ownership.
Wonderfully reasoned and argued. I initially saw no solid basis for rights, but I see them now.
How exactly does one find this in SL? I typed “Mises Institute” in the world map search but found nothing.
If you forced your choice of brightness upon them, then no, there would be no freedom. Having to move pixels around isn’t that big of a deal, especially when you sign contracts over their structure.
Wait, so this video game has a zoning commission? What kind of crappy game is this?
The Mises Institute just needs to upgrade to a more powerful machine gun, preferably some kind of advanced alien weaponry. You’ll find it on the upper platform in level 4. That should solve your problem.
Remember the “good old days” when video games were easy and simple like Pac-Man or Mario Brothers ? How times have changed. Imagine what it will be like in 20 years, frightening. Tron like.
Can we get a builder to recreate the architecture of the rl Mises Institute? I would donate Lindens to this project.
I don’t dabble in 2nd life, so maybe I don’t understand fully how this stuff works. But here is my 2 cents.
The landowner had a covenant on the land. So by encumbering his land, he is possibly lowering its value. Mises decided to pick up and move. If covenants become too restrictive, people leave. This gives the landowner an incentive to strike the proper balance. If he is in error, he will lose in terms of property value. Presumably, the restrictions make someone else happy, otherwise why have them? This sounds a lot like a restaurant deciding whether to allow smoking or now, or to what extent. That is, back when they were free to make these decisions.
http://bitcoincharts.com/markets/
Unlike Linden$, Bitcoin is actually appreciating over time… and can never be inflated into oblivion.
there.com virtual world might be up for sale. was and is my favorite.
The core problem with Redzone can be seen by my trip to Starbuck’s this morning.
As I sat in the corner Tweeting, I saw a middle-aged three-piece suit type at his laptop, using the Starbuck’s WIFI hotspot, as was I. His screen faced me and I could clearly see he was using Viewer 2 to navigate a moustachioed avatar through the SL countryside. Had this guy come in contact with a Redzone, his avatar would have been forever linked with my avatar who regularly navigates SL from that same WIFI hotspot and would therefore have been linked in the RZ database, along with countless other Starbuck’s customer avatars, and the people from McDonald’s next door who mouch off of the Starbuck’s WIFI. Not only that, but my workplace is a Web 2.0 enabled office rental complex which supplies WIFI as part of the rental and everyone in the building would, thus be linke din the RZ database, via me, with all of the Starbuck’s and McDoanld’s customer. The core connection is the shared IPs whcih is the primary link used to invoke Redzone connectivity. If any one of those dozen, if nto hundreds, of potential SL users had used an offending viewer, all of us could be banned, not to mention linked with the scurrilous antics of the other avatars.
Botht he Radzone database and its core concept are an affront and a danger. Linden needs to act.
HH
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