Psychology

Second Life® Male vs. Female Users: What the Data Actually Shows

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A discussion started in Second Life forum when a resident asked WHY so many more women’s stores than men’s. A quick analysis of the marketplace by AI and we find about 88% of the apparel items are for women. 2.9 million to 386k for men.

But I wondered if it is a male/female thing. Supposedly most women in SL are men… if that were true it blows the arguments about what men and women like and how they shop… out of the water.

Second Life Recruitment
SL Recruitment Office

So, what is the break down? This is way too tedious a task for me. So, I turn to AI and consider the answers. I asked Perplexity, Gemini, and Grok. Each of their responses is below. I summarize at the end (LINK) so you can skip the details if that isn’t your thing.

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Politics: Surveillance

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Why is it even important… and why should I care? I’ll get to the why…

Spy vs Spy
Spy vs Spy

Recently the Dems and GOP have been fussing about what is or isn’t spying. It doesn’t take exceptional intelligence to figure which side has staked their position in the debate in the Land of Dumb… Is it spying or surveillance? That seems to be the crux of the debate.

SPY ∙ verb

  • work for a government or other organization by secretly collecting information about enemies or competitors.
  • observe (someone) furtively.
  • discern or make out, especially by careful observation.

SURVEILLANCE ∙ noun

  • close observation, especially of a suspected spy or criminal.

Is there really a difference? Is any difference enough to matter? If not, then what is at play?

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The Challenge of the Ignorant

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Hamlet has an article about those that think Linden Lab® stopped updating Second Life™ and that the recent announcement of ‘millions’ being invested in Second Life this coming year is proof Sansar is failing and the Lab is ‘desperately’ returning to support SL. (Reference)

If you follow Second Life’s development news, this probably sounds ridiculous. It is.

‘Trust me… SL is dying… horribly… heheheha’

But, I see this idea, that development of Second Life has stopped, coming up in several places. August 1, Cindy Kraai posted Will LL have any plans upgrading SL after Sansar beta? Cindy has been around since May 2010, that’s 7+ years. Yet, she has no clue what is happening with Second Life development. Reading through the thread I find the amount of misinformation and ignorance amazing, not surprising.

Then there are those that are so sorry for poor newbies that have no money ($L). (Reference) They feel these newbies should somehow be helped. You see people quickly divide into the victim (or the ‘they’ are victims you [, not me] have to do something) versus self-reliant (DIY) groups on this subject.

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Free Speech to get Really Complicated

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Every so often I get on the subject of free speech. Second Life™ is said to be inhabited by more Liberals and Progressives than Conservatives and Traditionalists. But, no one knows, at least I have yet to see an objective study or assessment. I can see that we have more demonstrations of liberalism in SL. But, Conservatives have historically been the silent majority. Thus, the problem figuring out the actual demographics.

Google can't tell about information requests from China
Google can’t tell about information requests from China

Second Life is not a free speech area. It is a private area owned by Linden Lab(R). Speech is governed by the ToS. We are free to say whatever within those limits. It is up to the Lindens to decide what speech exceeds those limits. Their decision is final, there is no appeal.

In RL free speech is suffering from fake news that is confusing some people and adding extraneous information some mistake for facts. Part of which is that awful thing ‘Hate Speech’, which is an interesting spin on “Hate” and the prime tool for anti-speech proponents.

I think the recent Berkley riot and threat of riot are examples of people not understanding the US Constitution and the principle of Free Speech nor its importance nor how to protect it nor why.

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Philosophy: Do you know what the Ignorance Project is?

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I used to be surprised at how little people know, especially about current events and important political subjects. I’ve gotten over it. I’ve moved on to the psychology of changing minds.

Ignorance Project

I’m not the only one concerned about ignorant people messing up the world in their effort to make things better. In a 2014 presentation by TED (About) we learn about global ignorance and what can be done about it.

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