Earlier today I had an interesting conversation with a coworker about Second Life, the internet program that provides an online society within a 3D world where users can explore, build, socialize and participate in their own communities.  Since its inception in 2003, membership has soared into the millions.

What interested my coworker so much was a news story about a woman who divorced her husband because he was having an affair in Second Life.

Wait, what?

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Well, it turns out that a large part of the appeal for Second Life is the freedom it affords. Not only can users create an avatar, alter-ego, with any of the character traits they most desire – an obese woman can become a skinny girl, a middle-aged man can relive his youth – but, in addition to this freedom of expression, they can pretty much do whatever they want with whomever they want whenever they want.

Is it just me, or does this sound like we’ve stumbled upon an early version of Pandora’s Box?

Currently, Second Life’s only limitation is that the experience is not as absorbing as some might like.  However, the true significance and potential of Second Life can only be realized when full-sensory virtual reality becomes perfected.  When this happens, and it will, Second Life will have an uncanny resemblance to The Matrix – minus the human harvesting by machines.

If addiction to an imperfect Second Life is already occurring, than we can rest assured that a perfected Second Life will be all too hard to resist.  Can you imagine losing yourself so completely in Second Life that your health, relationships, and career in First Life deteriorated to the point of no return?

Would you even care?

Image Used in this Post

Amanda in Second Life image courtesy of Flickr user CosmicKitty published under the CC license.