[In this IEEE Spectrum interview, the chief architect of early metaverse Second Life provides some valuable perspective on what would be required, and the prospects for, a successful and widely popular metaverse. –Matthew] [Image: Hanging out in Second Life. Credit: Linden Lab] What Can the Metaverse Learn From Second Life? Creator Philip Rosedale says a virtual reality internet is still some way off By Edd Gent November 29, 2021 The tech world is abuzz with talk of the metaverse, a virtual world where millions of people could soon gather to work, play, and socialize. The idea isn’t as new as…

[Nvidia’s latest technology platform Omniverse Avatar attempts to create effective social presence illusions, as described briefly in this story from The Verge; watch the demonstrations from the CEO’s recent presentation and see what you think. For more details about these and other recent innovations from Nvidia see coverage in ZDNet. –Matthew] Nvidia wants to fill the virtual and physical worlds with AI avatars New Omniverse Avatar platform combines 3D models and AI speech By James Vincent November 9, 2021 Nvidia has announced a new platform for creating virtual agents named Omniverse Avatar. The platform combines a number of discrete technologies…

[This article about very important positive applications of presence is from USC Trojan Family Magazine; see the original version for two more images. –Matthew] [Image: Can virtual reality and interactive media help us find common ground and embrace healthy behaviors? Credit: Painting by Sally Deng] WALK IN MY SHOES Tech Can Push Us Apart, but These Games and VR Build Empathy Meet the digital creators who are using tech to make us feel a little more human. By Beth Newcomb Autumn 2021 Jennifer Flores welcomes visitors into her home — a tent in L.A.’s Echo Park. She points out the…

[This Washington Post story describes some interesting examples of medium-as-social-actor presence experiences of people using the Replika AI chatbot app; see the original story for four more images. For more on the origins of Replika see a CBC story that promotes a new documentary called “The Machine that Feels” (which is apparently only available in Canada at this writing). See also the New Yorker story “The Chatbot Problem: As we teach computers to use natural language, we are bumping into the inescapable biases of human communication,” which begins with examples of cases in which Replika advised users to commit murder…

[If presence is an illusion of nonmediation, an overlooking of at least some of the roles of technology in an experience, the presentation of targeted stimuli during sleep to alter our dreams and subsequent memories and behavior without our conscious awareness represents a vivid example of presence with both positive and disturbing implications. This story from Futurism provides an overview of the possibilities and the extended excerpt from an article in Aeon by three experts in the area provides more details and examples. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: By Getty / Futurism] Scientists Warn That Marketers Are Trying to Inject Ads Into…

[Meta (Facebook) has been working on a haptic glove to enhance presence in virtual and augmented reality, as reported in this story from The Verge; note the discussion at the end about the degree of realism required for effective illusions. See the original story for two more images and for more details see the Tech@Facebook blog; videos are available from VR Trailers & Clips via YouTube and Facebook. TechCrunch reports that startup HaptX says the new device is “substantively identical” to its own. –Matthew] Meta’s sci-fi haptic glove prototype lets you feel VR objects using air pockets A new sci-fi…