I missed something very cool in Second Life today as I thought the "2pm" was Pacific, not Eastern, time. Ah well. Catherine Linden teleported me in when there was about a minute to go, but at least I got to see the build, which was an SL recreation of where the RL discussion was taking place, built in 4 days by Chosen F using a handful of pictures available on the internet. The only thing that surprised me was Catherine saying, "I'd wondered where you were!" since I always think I am the humble unknown avatar running under the radar, attempting only to amuse herself.

"This Friday, at the sold-out PopTech conference, we will be conducting a fascinating experiment in co-mingling the virtual and the 'real'. In a session Friday afternoon at 2pm ET, the leading thinker on the economics of virtual worlds, Ed Castronova, and student-protester-turned-videogame-designer Ivan Marovic, and Steven Berlin Johnson, author of the delightful Everything Bad is Good for You, will be conducting a discussion on the serious impact of gaming -- how it may be used in everything from democratic participation to social change.

As if that weren't interesting enough PopTech will be streaming video of the entire session into Second Life in a (eerily, architecturally near-perfect) version of the Camden Opera House where the RL conference is taking place. In the realworld Opera House, there will be a large flat-screen monitor on the stage where PopTech attendees can watch the SL Residents watching the speakers, completing the circle (and possibly leading to the collapse of the Matrix.) In-world, a group of SecondLife residents will watch the session and participate as virtual audience members."

Maybe it did collapse the Matrix - at least as far as making me aware of how dirty my windows are, anyway.