02 July 2008

Virtually Real: Second Earth

As I keep seeing the beautifully detailed buildings that are popping up in GoogleEarth, I realize that we are pushing into the territory that Wired's Jargon Watch described last year:

Second Earth n. The theoretical virtual world of the future, merging Google Earth geography with Second Life habitability. While appealing to technologists, such a system might deplete the actual planet: It would require an estimated 150 nuclear power plants to run the servers.

In the Disney version you really like you should be able to go into the buildings. But I have to admit that I like not seeing avatars wandering through the scenery. But the thing that makes Times Square and Disney so special is that they are building their environment, with textures, as such a large sequence of spaces that you begin to feel like you are really walking around in the Second Earth landscape.

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