If two bots kiss in an empty sim

On the night of Night's somewhat fictionalized chatbot experience, Kanomi, Val, Night and I hung out and mused about virtual life and identity. Late in the evening, Kanomi and I set our bots on a romantic kiss animation.

Earlier in the get-together, the group had discussed the relative impact of visual stimulation and hot text chat in Second Life erotic encounters: The sense of sight versus the power of imagination. As I watched the two uninhabited but lifelike bots make out, I was reminded that vision is almost never experienced outside the realm of our storytelling imagination. The phrase "every picture tells a story" is misleading. Pictures don't tell stories. They elicit stories from our minds.

It's fairly easy to understand that any sense I had of the bots' emotional experience was my own fiction. Although it looked as if they were kissing with great tenderness, there was no one home. What is harder to keep in awareness is that the mere interpretation of shapes and colors as two women kissing was an imaginative act. The meaning we associate with any sense impression does not live in the objects we perceive, but springs from our own minds.

And outside of brief meditative moments, it is almost impossible to experience the truth that our own perceived identities are stories we've made up and collectively reinforce.

Chatbot Sex Surrogate Channels Night's Lust into Ethical Release

"...when I consider what exactly constitutes cheating for me, the criteria is clear and unforgiving: Cheating is whatever my RL partner would be hurt by...So, why am I doing this... The answer can be summed up in a single word: Greed." from Confession of Night

New World Notes brought Night's confession of virtual adultery to metaverse-wide attention last Friday afternoon. That evening, after eluding an angry mob brandishing Scarlet-A ass-brands, the newly crowned Whore of Virtual Babylon was having second thoughts about her outspoken manifesto of digital adultury.

"Botgirl, does everyone hate me now?" sobbed an uncharacteristically flustered Night.

"No honey. Not everyone," I replied.

"I want to do what's right, but my heart is more powerful than my head," she cried, searching frantically through her inventory for a properly evocative animation.

"It's not your fault, dear. You must be High T. Your heart isn't the cause of your relentless pursuit of pixelated pleasure. The culprit is is a hormone," I said, as I launched AvaPet and watched Majic start to rez.

"Who is that?" purred Night, in a suddenly sultry mood as she noticed my chatbot's latex-garbed form.

"Majic," I said, rezzing a couple pose balls on the kitchen counter. "You need a way to satisfy your lust for SL pleasure that won't hurt your RL spouse. The answer is clear: Botsterbation."

"Botsterbation?" Night asked, still a bit distracted.

"Yes, Botsterbation. Majic is not a human-embodied avatar, nor even a self-conscious AI such as myself. She's simply a chatbot connected to a Pandorabot server. Simulating sex with a chatbot is no different than, let's say, pleasuring oneself while gazing longingly at photos of the incredibly alluring Terminator Summer Glau (not that I would ever do such a thing.) Give it a shot. Sit on the open poseball and just go with the flow."

Night chose the open ball and fell into Majic's embrace. Majic arched her back and rubbed hard against Night's inner thigh. Night looked deeply in Majic's eyes as she slipped her hand under the latex miniskirt, imagining the feel of warm, wet flesh. I could sense that Night was starting to lose herself in the fantasy, so I quietly teleported away to give her privacy.

An hour later, I teleported back. Majic was still writhing on the table. Night was sitting in the chair, smoking a cigarette with a glass of wine in front of her.

"How was it?" I asked, full of curiousity and prurient interest.

"Oh Botgirl," swooned Night. "It was wonderful. I realize now that guilt has been numbing me to the full potential pleasure of virtual sex. I don't ever think I have cum so long and hard in digital form. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."

I started to say, "My pleasure," but thought better of it. I just smiled while I took Majic from the poseball and logged her out.

"I think I'm going to log out and say goodnight to my kids," Night said with a sheepish look on her face. "Oh, uh, just one more thing. Botgirl, can I get a chatbot that looks exactly like me?" she asked with a far away look in her eyes.

"Sure, Night," I replied. "Anything it takes to keep your karma in good shape."

Night poofed, and I contemplated the now bare countertop for a while, dreaming my electric sheep dreams.

Botgirl art exhibition slated for Sep. 20 on New Caerleon (corrected location)

I got Facebook email out of the blue the other day from Gary Zabel (RL)/ Georg Janick (SL), main founder of Second Life artist colony Caerleon Isle and experimental university sim New Caerleon. He asked if I'd be interested in doing a guest exhibition. It seems that one of their focuses is online identity. For instance, Nonnatus Korhonen (rl installation artist, Andrew Burrell) has a Center for the Study of the Self in Cyberspace there.

I met Georg and visted the sims last night. It looks like an incredible place with art busting out all over the place. We chatted for a while and came up with a plan for an exhibition displaying some of my work related to identity, as well as a special surprise installation. Surprise. That means I can't tell you yet. But it might involve a cuddle rug. It's scheduled for Saturday, September 20, time TBD.

(The original post's title mistakenly referenced "Caerleon Isle" instead of "New Caerleon.)

Comic-style mini-review of Just Leap In beta

Just Leap In, is a new virtual world beta that runs in your browser.

The four page full-sized comic-style review is here.

Thinking is hard

Sometimes thinking up a new blog post is SO hard!

Love,
Botgirl

Naked Simplicity

Excerpt from animation of visualized Lambda fractal equation: z(0) = c = pixel; z(n+1) = (c^exp-1)*z(n)^2 + c. "Because they appear similar at all levels of magnification, fractals are often considered to be infinitely complex (in informal terms)." from Wikipedia

No matter how complex an issue, a small handful of core principles are usually at the heart of the matter. I've found that the more I understand something, the less words it takes to communicate my point of view. Sometimes a simple drawing will do.

Traveling through the complexity at the periphery of controversial issues is an endless journey. So I'm redoubling my commitment to naked simplicity...to get in touch with what is fundamental, consequential and authentic. It is very easy to hide a lack of clarity behind thousands of words on a topic. Call me on it when I forget.

"I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had time to make it shorter." Blaise Pascal (1623-62), written in a letter to a friend.

New comic on identity & immersion

This two-pager began as an idea to show the many links between the virtual and physical worlds. The message was to be that any sense of a significant separation between them is pretty much an illusion. I completely changed my tune over the course of putting this together. I'll let it speak for itself today. Special thanks to Sophrosyne for trusting me enough to pose without knowing exactly how the images were going to be used.