Reincarnation... but not as we know it.

I remember when I was a kid I saw an old movie by Laurel and Hardy and at the end of the film some horror befalls Oliver Hardy and he dies. I remember being shocked (I was probably 7 or 8 years old) at the death. Hell, wasn't this supposed to be a comedy? 2 seconds later I found myself shocked again by the fact that there was now a talking donkey, wearing a bowler hat and saying "This is another fine mess you've gotten me into!".

"Mummy mummy Hardy died and turned into a donkey".

My Mum explained to me that some people believe you will come back as an animal after you die but of course those people were all mad. We, the glorious children of Rome, have the right idea, no wanking and you'll be marching through the pearly gates with your wings on and all your sins forgiven.

I don't know why I am writing this but I suspect that it is because this is the first time I had ever heard of the thing called reincarnation. Now I've just stumbled across another shocker... virtual reincarnation.

All the nerds out there can forgive me for being a bit slow but I just came across this article on the BBC talking about the fact that they are staging their own rock festival in the game "Second Life".

Second Life is an online game where you can create a virtual existence and live out a fantasy. Okay, so what's new about that? Well, in this virtual life there is a real economy and you can make real money. So much so, that for some people, Second Life has become their living in their first life.

You could conceivably become an businessman selling goods that don't really exist to people that don't really exist but yet make real money. Kind of like the Stock Market in First life.

One thing that occurred to me is that Second Life is conceivably a good way for a disabled person or a housebound person to try to make some cash but never leave their homes. Obviously this occurs to me because there is a possibility that one day my eyesight will be so bad I will have problems going out on my own. Hell! Why not stay at home and become a virtual pimp!!!!!

There have been reports that the game is so addictive that some people are dropping wads of cash into it and ruining their first life. Imagine though, if your Second Life business takes off you may end up creating employment opportunities in the first life. I have an image of the spotty teenager character from the Simpsons being employed in the first life to sit in front of a computer all day manning a Second Life convenience store!

The Second Life economy could eventually herald the end of Western Civilisation. I mean, it's only people with disposable income who will be able to play this game right? That pretty much means the West and China. So while we are are all shopping for virtual crotchless panties, the rest of the world may we be doing tangible, real things, like..well... living.

Okay so I'm being melodramatic but you never know....

Is this getting strange or what? Here is an article from Businessweek on the phenomenon.

Imagine if war became virtual in the sense that only virtual people were killed - that would be cool. We can go to war over virtual land, but knowing humans in the first life, we'd probably go to war over internet bandwidth.

Fuck it! I'm off to open Willies Virtual Scottish emporium!!!!!!