island Earth is entering a new phase of activity, launching a group in Second Life. This on-line environment is an amazing way to reach out to and communicate with people around the World.
Many universities use Second Life for tutorials.
The image above shows my avatar, Stjarna Szondi, at the ABC island in Second Life. Stjarna is my face and form in Second Life and on his shoulder is a baby dragon called Dreki. If you call on me in Second Life, bring marshmallows, as Dreki breathes fire.
Our vision statement in Second Life describes how:
“We work for a safe Earth and a star-faring civilization. Two key steps will be to build solar power stations in space, to access the unlimited energy-well of the Sun and also build Star Cities with an Earth gravity, like the space station in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. In SL we can build a showcase of this vision, where people from around the World can meet and work to make it happen. Would you like to share this dream and help create a healthy life and amazing future for all Earth’s children?”
With Germany, China, Australia and Venezuela getting the jitters over nuclear power with the unfolding crisis in Japan, the time is right to build solar power stations in space, to provide the volume of energy that we will need to deal with the many environmental problems that we are now heading into.
For some time Japan has been testing the prospect of accessing the unlimited energy-well of the Sun directly in space and this may now become a reality. With the diminishing prospects of nuclear power, Japan will need a lot of energy for its survival and future prosperity, as will the World.
Energy harvested directly from the Sun will also deliver massive carbon credits.
With the high level of solar energy that could be delivered from space-based power stations, we would be able to use this energy to remove excess carbon from the air and use it as a resource in building and manufacture. In this way we could win back a safe Earth with a familiar climate.
Australia could be at the front line of this new energy drive, which would be a productive use of a mining tax that the mining industry may even take a shine to. With all our energy coming from the Sun, we could leave coal, oil and gas grounded and available for more specialised uses.
The future prosperity of Australia is shining down upon us, but we will have to reach out and grasp it. If we keep stubbornly digging holes in the ground for coal, we may wake up one day to find the market has vanished and be forced to buy space based solar power from Japan, simply to keep our nation running.
With island Earth in Second Life we aim to set up a showroom, where people from around the World will be able to call in, via their avatars and examine the possibilities for the future, including solar powered electric transport, airships that can replace jets and ships, solar power stations and automated factories in space, Earth-gravity orbital space settlements and the future of stellar exploration.
Second Life is a full-size environment, with a sky that currently reaches up to 4000 metres. The model of an airship could therefore be a full-size model.
island Earth’s could have a real life show room one day that presents options for a safe Earth and space futures. The office could display a model of the first Earth-gravity Star City that visitors could examine and even consider as an investment option. With the Second Life display room available via the Internet, visitors to the island Earth office, or from anywhere around the World, would be able to explore a full-size realistic environment of an Earth-gravity Star City as could one day be build in space.
Like the space station in Kubrick’s movie ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, visitors would be able to walk around the inside of the torus and help design the environments that they would like in space. People make money in Second Life by selling virtual products and services in shops in the virtual world and in the Internet Second Life store, as well as leasing and selling land and apartments, where Lindon dollars can be exchanged for real life currency.
In the Second Life experience the engineering designs of the first Earth-gravity Star City, which would be built with resources from the Moon and near-Earth asteroids and located in the Moon’s orbit above Earth, could be hammered into domestic and economic shape. People would be able to invest in a Star City apartment in Second Life that could one day be build among the stars, that they, or their children, or grandchildren could occupy.
Is Star City so alien? How many hours do people spend in shopping complexes and large hotels, especially if they work there. Half of Star City could be dedicated to vegetated environments for tranquility and recreation. Earth would be a mere shuttle flight away and it is much simpler to glide back to Earth than it is to climb into space.
Through Second Life we can design a third life among the stars, where there will be amazing and unlimited creative potential.
As Jean-Luc Picard would oft say on Star Trek and as we can, “Make it so.”
I have also launched my Second Life avatar Stjarna Szondi onto Twitter, where I will lodge daily updates on the adventure.
Picture: Stjarna Szondi with his baby dragon Dreki at the ABC island in Second Life
