Alright, so let me tell you about this wild ride of a day I had with Philip Rosedale. Yeah, the guy who’s back steering the ship at Linden Lab—home of Second Life. First time I ever managed to sit across from him, and let me tell you, it wasn’t just another Wednesday. The guy is like… I don’t know, like a thought tornado, constantly spinning with ideas. You sit with him, and boom—you’re in his idea hurricane.
I didn’t really plan much—typical me, right? Just winged it. Philip and I chatted a bit and he’s… I’d say, unexpectedly normal for a legend. Or maybe that’s just what makes him legendary? Who knows. Either way, he’s got that vibe that makes you feel like you’ve known him forever. And after our chat, I thought, hey, why not grab an impromptu interview, right? Probably should’ve planned it, but I didn’t—I’m just not that organized.
Somehow, in like, ten minutes, we managed to cram in talk about mixed reality, AI, and yes, the mythical “metaverse.” Spoiler alert: Philip’s not expecting the masses to jump in just yet. Says we should aim for those tech-crazed innovators for now—explains quite a bit about why places like VRChat are bumping and something like Horizon Worlds is… well… still finding its feet.
Anyway, if you’re curious, there’s a video of our chat somewhere below. You might catch my excitement—weird, considering I’m usually poker-faced… but hey, meeting your heroes will do that to you. Watch it if you want, or don’t. No biggie.
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Tony: Hey guys, I’m here with Philip Rosedale. Just casually hanging out at the Second Life HQ. So Philip, about this whole metaverse thing… people are treating it like a ghost story now. Are we done with social VR or what?
Philip: Nah, it’s not over. I mean, VR’s still a daily thing for loads of folks—Second Life, VRChat, you name it. Might not be mainstream yet, but it’s hanging in there for the dedicated. Right now, though, the tech’s not quite ready for it to be everyone’s cup of tea. Those headsets, they’re just not cutting it yet, right? Need a bit more oomph.
Tony: Exactly, we creators can’t just magically fix headset issues. But okay, us regular folks—what can we actually do to jazz up the VR space without having Meta or Google cash?
Philip: Ah, creativity is king, man. Places rocking the creativity boat are the ones that’re crushing it. Think outside the box—Second Life thrived ’cause it was quirky, full of oddball experiments. Keep pushing those out-there ideas; that’s what makes these worlds tick. Business meetings or… I dunno, rock concerts in VR? Feels like we’re not there yet. Let’s just keep encouraging wild ideas. The world’s scary and weird—guess virtual worlds can be a bit of an escape hatch.
Tony: True, true. Speaking of worlds—how about mixed reality? What’s up with that?
Philip: Ah, mixed reality… eyes are the problem, man. Cover ‘em up, and it’s like we’re playing poker against our will. Creepy, right? We need gear that doesn’t blind us. Oh, and there’s this social contract jazz—like what we share with each other ain’t quite decided. Privacy’s a whole big can of worms, especially when devices start peeping at our offices. Spooky stuff.
Tony: Yeah, AI friends. What about that trend? Replacing humans with digital pals—is that the future?
Philip: Gotta tread carefully there. Replacing humans outright? That’s risky business. More interesting is AI enhancing real friendships. But businesses might just push AI companions over real ones—sounds dystopian, huh? Society, we gotta make the call—ethics over dollars.
Tony: One last thing—some inspiration for those reading, if you will?
Philip: Oh sure, avatars, man—get those right! If AI can make them look more like us, that’d be gold… Imagine avatars that mimic like pro actors—not uncanny robots. It’s a techie dream for now, but I think we’ll get there.
Tony: Brilliant stuff. Thanks for the chat, Philip. Catch you later!
Philip: It’s been fun. Take care!
