Fame

Is it any wonder, I reject you first?

 

There are (as one may have it) a number of things which strike me as an oddity of juxtaposition within my life. Through situational awareness, it can be said that I am suddenly surprised by how people react to my presence. It isn’t to say that I suddenly just now became surprised, but it is something that I consistently forget and then am reminded of.

 

To this end, the topic of this blog (journal rambling) is that of perception and (for lack of better word) fame.

 

 

 

I’ve never considered myself famous in the more common sense, but more often than not I am treated as a sort of celebrity depending on the circumstances. It seems to rear up when I least expect it – for instance when talking to actual celebrities and while I find myself flattered that they take the time to speak with me, I come to find out that they are actually a fan of me.

 

That takes a while to sink in, to be honest.

 

I don’t think it ever really does sink in to my conscious mind too long, but it does just long enough to make me go “Oh... wow...” and then in a few days it wears off and I somehow manage to repress that memory like it never happened.

 

But somewhere in the back of my mind, I know it is still there lingering. I didn’t actually forget that I’m a celebrity. I just seem to do a really good job convincing myself that I’m not and acting like I’m not. Maybe (despite opinions to the contrary) I am actually a bit humble. I know in my persona I act like I’m hot stuff but like Andy Warhol it’s really just a front.

 

I am (to the public eye) mostly just a persona. A fabrication of intellectual bad-ass propped up by perceptions of genius and brilliance. The problem is, I’ve never seen myself like that, even when I know it is true... it could be said that I am highly intelligent (MENSA level) and I wouldn’t deny that, and I’ve had an interesting, if not illustrious, career involvements that have had me in the right place at the right time.

 

Despite my disastrous luck in life, I’ve been an exceedingly lucky individual. My whole life is an ongoing exercise in polar opposite absurdity. I wouldn’t trade it for anything, really...

 

I’ve seen the after parties for MTV, hung out with actual celebrities and rock stars, and found myself in the company of some of the brightest and most talented minds in the world. For all of that, I find myself feeling honored to be there, and almost always surprised when I come to find that I’m usually the man of the hour. Celebrities and high-powered people acting like they are the ones who are honored to meet and get to hang out with me.

 

I’m still kinda weirded out by that...

 

 

 

 

Did I mention I’m not entirely a fan of Hollywood? They always came across as hollow and fake to me. No wonder David Bowie sang about it in his song Fame (for which the title of today’s post borrows a line). I’m not against celebrity and Hollywood... I just see past the smoke and mirrors and get right to the authentic people aspect of it. Which tends to either endear people or scare the living bejesus out of them. One of the many benefits of being an INTJ personality...

 

I see through the facade and they tend to relax a bit and stop putting up a front. That’s all Hollywood really is, just a bunch of smoke and mirrors. The ultimate of sustained persona versus sincerity.

 

All the while I play it cool and just try to stay down to Earth (and usually am). Approachable and an “everyday” sort of guy you could just hang out with. That’s how I see myself in my own mind. But my reputation precedes me in most cases and what I think of myself is rarely what others see in me when I enter the room.

 

This (in and of itself) is the crux of what being famous actually is. Meaning millions of people have the wrong idea about who you actually are, and no amount of contradiction can change their mind.

 

Of course, that internal image of myself goes to hell in a hand basket when I suddenly get a text message from an actual celebrity just to say “Hi” and to let me know they’re heading out for the next week and wanted to let me know.

 

I mean... at first I’m like “Hey, have a wonderful trip!” but then (about thirty seconds later) it really hits me.

 

I’m like: Wait a minute. Millions of adoring fans worldwide, television interviews, globetrotting, the whole nine yards... and you specifically think it is important to stop and let me (of all people) know that you’re heading out to Sweden for a week to visit family and you’ll be back soon?

 

I’m actually really speechless about that.

 

There is the understanding that this isn’t an isolated incident, either. I mean, somebody else (who I won’t disclose) took the time to let me know they were going to Hong Kong next month (visiting the wife’s family) and wanted to let me know ahead of time. Again, a really well known person worldwide... taking time out of their day to let me know they were going on vacation but would be back in a month.

 

As I sit here and think about it, I’m a bit flabbergasted. At what point in my life did that transition actually happen? But what blows my mind most is that while I’m sitting here thinking that I’m flattered and honored that they thought of me in all of this (enough to take the time out to let me know personally), I come to find out that they are fans of me.

 

All the while as I’m thinking they are the celebrity, they are thinking I’m the important celebrity to know.

 

That’s about the moment I realize (once again) that I actually am (sorta) a celebrity in my own right. Though I consistently try not to be, people treat me like I am and it never ceases to baffle me.

 

Sure, I can say that I’ve accomplished quite a lot in my life (so far). Been there and done that sort of mentality. I’m not entirely certain if the inner image of myself and celebrities has reached a point where I take it for granted or if I’m just in denial that I’m a celebrity as well.

 

Maybe it is a little bit of both?

 

When I spent a lot of time in Second Life, that persona had a chance to really take hold in the virtual sense. It did help that I had a PR department behind me, and that started the snowball rolling. I did interviews, photo shoots, a research paper, book chapter, and even spoke at virtual events.

 

My last “appearance” was as a panelist for the previous Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference, whereby it never ceased to amaze me what amazing people I was sharing a stage with.

 

 

 

 

But there I was, just as large as life (maybe larger).

 

One could say that I voluntarily made an exit from that scene in the virtual sense, but in reality it never stopped. All I managed to actually do was to lay low and go off the radar a bit for some peace and quiet. More or less I took the Johnny Depp route and moved to virtual France.

 

This can be evidenced by the continuation (even today) whereby a lot of SL folks are like “I’m a huge fan of you!” when I’m saying I’m a fan of them... But while I’ve scaled back the public appearances portion of my persona aspect, it only seemed to apply to the virtual world. In the real world that celebrity mentality continues unabated and completely to my surprise.

 

The actual reasoning for my absence in Second Life has been more along the lines of a recurring theme in virtual worlds users that I refer to as Groundhog Day Syndrome. Named after that wonderful Bill Murray movie, it is a perfect symbolism for just having total ennui and a loss of motivation/tolerance for something.

 

It comes and goes, so don’t think for a moment that I’m suddenly never going to be passionate about virtual worlds again. It’s just that after... I’d say about twenty years now, it all just gets repetitive and boring. You log in and see the same old things, that pattern recognition kicks in and you start to think “Why bother?”

 

Or maybe I’m a virtual God?

 

Of course, not the God. But, ya know... a god by the definition of Bill Murray in Groundhog Day? Maybe just a guy that’s been around so long he seems like he knows everything (but doesn’t)? Nothing is “new” and so everything (most things) are expected and seen coming a mile away.

 

I think maybe in the bigger scheme of things, a lot of us are gods in that manner.

 

And just like a “god”, when I get bored of something I want to make something better and create something amazing. Something totally new.

 

 

 

I could sit around and talk about the virtues of Oculus Rift and all the great things it’ll do for the industry, but to be honest it is merely an over-hyped stopgap between virtual reality and mixed reality.

 

The real evolution and future of virtual worlds, and ultimately the Metaverse as a whole is in mixed reality/augmented reality space. So much so that even Neal Stephenson himself was recently hired by Magic Leap. So it’s not really an uneducated opinion I’m putting out there, but pointing out that the godfather of the Metaverse itself and a huge name in Cyberpunk is involved not in virtual reality but in advanced Mixed Reality.

 

Of course, I already knew this was coming. Not that I’m tooting my own horn, but I have been saying for the past few years now that the future is in Augmented and Mixed Reality, and that Virtual Reality is just the Gartner Hype Cycle to get us there.

 

 

 

Right now, Virtual Reality is back at the Peak of Inflated Expectations, and by the time Oculus Rift leaves the gate officially, it’ll likely be overshadowed by things like Magic Leap and similar mixed reality systems, which will dropkick VR back into the Trough of Disillusionment. Or maybe not... seeing as Oculus recently bought out 13th Lab, which is a company that specializes in augmented reality and has their own SLAM algorithm for real world mapping.

 

I think Oculus sees the writing on the wall already and is looking to shift gears to a headset that can do AR/MR before they launch so they’ll potentially have an “all in one” sort of headset.

 

But still, that sort of mixed reality system is still very limited in the bigger scope. It is localized and effectively tethered to smaller spaces and publish model experiences. The same can be said (ahead of time) for Magic Leap technology, and although their display technology is actually really fuck-all impressive, they still only have one piece of the bigger puzzle for the future. They (like Oculus) are (to me) considered just enabler technology in the stop gap to the future.

 

Which (of course) brings us to that all important question:

 

What the hell have you been up to, Will?

 

Whereby the reply is going to be that I’ve been focusing on the technology forecast concerning advanced mixed reality systems and how to actually build one that would meet my stupidly high expectations. I started drifting out of the VR sector and into the MR sector awhile ago, but keeping in mind all of the stuff I’ve learned from VR in the past twenty years. Not surprisingly, it applies to the mixed reality sector quite well.

 

After all, I think I’ve said pretty much all there is to say about Virtual Reality and The Metaverse. Though I am still the Vice Chair for the IEEE Virtual World Standard Group (P1828) and likely for a rekindled standard initiative stemming from P1828 at IEEE, I want to think bigger than that.

 

My general philosophy has always been that if the whole damned world is looking at something and it’s collectively “the future”, then I’m not looking far enough ahead at the trends. So that’s pretty much why I transitioned my attention from VR to Mixed Reality systems.

 

 

 

 

In the bigger picture, there’s a guy formerly at the Nokia Mobile Life Centre who was (is) working on his PhD thesis and project (Kim Nevelsteen). An avid fan of The Metaverse overall for the past ten years, he always wanted to focus on Pervasive Games and Mixed Reality. As per his update, he moved on to just being at Stockholm University in the Immersive Networking group but has had the opportunity to change direction and focus on pervasive games and mixed reality like he originally wanted (finally!)

 

 

“Your paper was a pivotal point because it just made me burn (pun intended) even more for working on the Metaverse. It also puts in black and white lots of things I have been thinking about before.”

 

 

He and I have had wonderful conversations on and off about the state of the industry and where we think the future is at, and it’s nice to know that he is finally able to pursue that future.

 

In all honesty, it is flattering to know that I am able to inspire people in the industry like that, and have a positive effect. I wouldn’t say I was the only thing that drove him in that direction, but instead (as it apparently wasn’t clear before), I see myself as one of many pivotal parts of the whole conversation and part of that inspiration and culmination of many things.

 

In and of itself, I am still amazingly flattered and humbled that I could have even the slightest effect in the industry.

 

Editor’s Note: Part of the problem with writing a blog as a stream of consciousness with little (or no) editing is that a lot of the time I miss things that I think are implied when they come across as meaning something else. Happens sometimes when you’re writing far into the morning, and so I’d like to make that clear on behalf of Kim in what will probably one of the first edits to this blog. He’s an amazing guy and highly intelligent, definitely check out what he’s up to via the link above.

 

Other than that, I’ve been tied up with a NASA project called Deep Space Blue about the experience of being a near future Mars inhabitant and replicating some of that atmosphere for the real world participants. Hashtag #JourneyToMars if that’s your thing... Which in turn has landed me smack dab back where I was before with the whole “dealing with Hollywood and celebrities” thing.

 

Except a lot bigger than before.

 

As part of the Deep Space Blue initiative, there is a major Hollywood agency involved (the people who represent the celebrities and talent), as well as a big production company. And so, I’m back at the center of that maelstrom again as the intellectual celebrity bad-ass of the group.

 

Without even giving it a second thought, we send out best wishes and condolences to Melissa (Rivers) while congratulating Ben (Affleck) on getting the green light on his recent indie collaboration. This is the sort of normality I’ve come to take for granted in my life. I’m just not surprised by it any more...

 

I suppose I’m an intellectual celebrity versus famous for simply being good looking and an actor... though I’m sure a lot of ladies out there will correct me about the whole “being good looking” thing... I’ll take whatever I can get on that front. Flattery is always an acceptable currency.

 

It never ceases to amaze me just how many fan girls I actually have, or the various things they are prepared to do to and with me if only I’d give them a chance.

 

It’s enough to make me blush, and that says a lot.

 

 

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Dandy Warhol

Living in the age of manufactured celebrity

 

Sometimes there are posts which I put out on Google+ that delve into topics that, while they work well for social media, also beg to be expanded upon in a long-form format here in the blog. Not all of my posts are about virtual worlds specifically, but they do (quite often) cross over and find a parallel when it suits the larger narrative.

 

 

Today, I’d like to write a bit about Andy Warhol, and more importantly the things that he popularized in the art world. Maybe more importantly, the things he popularized in the rest of the world as well.

 

Andy Warhol is a pop art icon, and by most considered an art master of the 20th century. Most famous for his depiction of a Campbell’s Soup Can, Andy wasn’t always the super famous pop icon that he is known for, and most importantly the very persona that he is known for isn’t even real.

 

Admittedly, when Andy Warhol started out, he was an unassuming guy that nobody paid attention to. He worked as an amateur artist and had trouble selling his works, even in a diner.

 

But that didn’t stop him.

 

He worked at a leather company for awhile, and did their marketing images and design stuff. They loved him. To this day their logo is the one that Andy designed and they won’t change it. Of course that’s for obvious reason now, since their logo is probably worth a hundred million dollars as an Andy Warhol original these days.

 

But that didn’t satisfy Andy Warhol.

 

So one day he had an epiphany... artwork is manufactured, and in the art world it’s just as much about persona behind it as it is about the art. You could be brilliant at anything, really... but if you don’t have the persona and reputation to go with it, then you’re just an unknown brilliant person. So the trick was figuring out himself as a packaged persona that would be well known.

 

Andy decided what he needed was to reinvent himself as a persona to go with that artwork he was making, and that’s exactly what he did. Gone were the bland shoes and slacks, the bowtie (yes, he wore a bowtie), and the unassuming attitude.

 

Andy Warhol set out to create himself as a public persona and to do that he went wildly in the opposite direction of who he was as a person. Striped shirt, leather jacket, leather boots and sunglasses.

 

Of course, there is also the white wig.

 

Here’s the thing about that: Andy Warhol was perfectly aware that the wig was blatantly noticeable, and at absolutely no point did he expect you to think otherwise. That was the point. It was a manufactured oddity of character persona that stood out.

 

In a way, you could say Andy Warhol was the original Second Life avatar.

 

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I highly recommend watching the embedded video below about Andy Warhol, when it comes down to all of this. I know most people reading this aren’t necessarily the sort to spend an hour here, but I assure you it’s worth the time.

 

 

 

The very personality that he took on when he was dressed that way was also manufactured as well. Vague and mysterious. Answering questions with perplexing and brazen mockery or “because I could” attitude.

 

Effectively, he realized that in order for people to take his work seriously and not just as illustration, it had to be “about” something. He had to comment on the world around him, and make people look at it differently. My kind of guy, actually.

 

In order to get people take that seriously, artwork that was about marketing, branding and the effects on society, he had to rebrand himself.

 

And that’s what we’re exploring today in this post.

 

Not necessarily Andy Warhol, but the concept of how persona in the modern age comes from that personal rebranding for the public image. Andy famously predicted that in the future, anyone who could get themselves in front of a camera could become a superstar with at least their 15 minutes of fame. We play personas today in the digital age quite a lot, but brilliantly... Andy Warhol got things right in the age of YouTube well before the Internet even existed.

 

Indeed, anyone that can get themselves in front of a camera can become famous. Millions of subscribers (fans) on Youtube are a testament to that.

 

So much was Andy Warhol intrigued by all of this, at least in his time (he passed away in 1987), that he decided that he could manufacture celebrity and fame at will. Which is what he regularly did in his studio and projects... You’ve probably heard about the band Velvet Underground, which of course was a project by Andy Warhol.

 

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The Age of Fame

 

Which transitions to the idea that here in 2014, many of the things Andy Warhol are already in practice. As mentioned before, anyone with enough dedication to getting themselves in front of a camera can get themselves fame. Youtube allows for that and I’ve had quite an interesting amount of conversation with folks like Diana and Dmitri, who are well known in the ASMR community, about this very concept.

 

Fame, for what it is worth, is mostly manufactured and subscribes to the very things that Andy Warhol set into motion. Of course this process existed before Andy pointed it out, but it was reserved mostly in a closed system for movie stars and radio. But now literally anyone can be famous if they want to.

 

But that comes down to manufactured persona and your ability to get in front of a camera long enough. Just like Warhol predicted.

 

So in the Youtube scene, we see plenty of personas (PewDePie, Jacksepticeye, Laina, etc) and they are quite famous. At least, they are likely a hell of a lot more famous than you are reading this.

 

It’s also an interesting psychological effect on the person in the limelight. Too often, Youtube personalities are taken aback at their own rise to fame and popularity. You see videos saying “Holy crap! 500,000 subscribers!?” and then a month or two later that number is a million... in some instances, those same Youtube personalities become famous enough that people notice them on the street and ask for autographs and photos.

 

 

 

 

This also extends (to a lesser degree) to virtual worlds like Second Life where you’re more often than not playing a persona by default. You can be “famous” in the virtual world as well, and from there it’s just a matter of how ambitious you are.

 

In some cases, you just trip into it or end up being in the right places or seen with the right people. I can attest to that one, and even Aeonix Aeon is a persona – albeit merely a mild caricature of my real self. I definitely enjoy playing up the Lewis Black/Bill Hicks aspects for the hell of it, because that’s what you expect from the persona. I play those caricatures on and off for this blog as well (depending on my mood and the topic), and for many reading this stuff you enjoy it quite a lot, or are absolutely irritated by me and want to hunt and kill me.

 

The real me is a happy medium in there somewhere and the contentious cantankerous behavior are exaggerated quirks because of that fame aspect. Every celebrity is putting on that persona for you – even when you meet them in person. They’re playing a character... the person you think they are.

 

But therein is the truly interesting thing... in that manufactured fame aspect, you are playing a character even in real life. Youtube personalities do the same (at least in their videos), and in the virtual world you’re simply going whole hog with the character.

 

An excellent example is during the height of The Matrix, Keanu Reeves was asked about his personal life, to which he replied he’s really boring. Goes home to his apartment (gasp!) reads or watches television.

 

Which brings us the idea of Projecting onto others. Something that Bryn Oh explained to me a long time ago... which I guess in the virtual world Bryn Oh is pretty much the Andy Warhol equivalent. Completely and utterly manufactured persona to the Nth degree for “celebrity” status as an artist, which only reinforces what Warhol had said.

 

Though there is definitely a darker side to that manufactured fame, and this was famously illustrated by Warhol as well in his famous painting of Marilyn Monroe.

 

Lot’s of glitter and color painted over a black and white print, the statement was that celebrities where a mask in public and underneath that mask they are very different. Norma Jean Baker was the real person and fame absolutely killed her. Depression and such led her to suicide.

 

Few people really did know Marilyn Monroe as the person and the world knew her as that manufactured persona for fame.

 

Putting on that facade for the public really starts eating away at you over time, which is why I make a very clear distinction between myself and the persona of Aeonix. I don’t pretend Aeonix is who I am entirely and flatly tell you (and the public) when I’m putting you on, and even why. This is mostly because I actually do want you to know me as a person and not a persona, and I am more interested in knowing others as a person and not persona.

 

Regardless though, (at least in Second Life), most people are terrified of the reality and do everything they can to keep up the manufactured character at all costs. As you can imagine, few people take me up on that offer of person to person, and dropping the facade.

 

But of those that do, they find out I’m pretty fun to be around (mostly).

 

There is (of course) the context of “fans” when you’re “famous”. Don’t mind the quotes... though I do understand the context from a first hand experience. Some are typical while others get totally obsessed over you (the persona) even when you’re no longer playing into it... it is such an odd situation to me whenever that happens.

 

So the real question isn’t about whether anyone with enough ambition and getting themselves in front of a camera can be famous in this day and age, but whether we can actually handle it when it comes. While I can personally handle it, I simply chose to get out of that limelight (or sure as hell try) and back to where I enjoy things most: Still hanging out with those “famous” people and even helping them behind the scenes.

 

Modern day celebrities often fail in this respect, if you look at people like Lindsay Lohan, Brittany Spears or (I suppose) Miley Cyrus. I’d put a picture of them here but I can’t really decide whether it would illustrate the point tastefully or not.

 

 

 

Alright, so I went with Lindsay Lohan as Person. The first thing that you’ll notice is that Lindsay looks a hell of a lot different without the photoshop and makeup. Of course, this isn’t a picture of her at her worst... we already know what that looks like and we don’t need a reprise. However, instead of opting for a picture of her as manufactured celebrity (we’ll touch on the Madonna/Whore complex shortly), I just decided to show her as a typical person...

 

If you saw Lindsay Lohan on the street without the makeup and manufactured persona, you’d more than likely not even realize it was her. Just a random red-head in the crowd.

 

It’s not too much to understand that the general public are just as vulnerable in the same respect, if not more. The constant doubting about whether people are being sincere, not really getting close to your fans, the whole nine yards. The real life version of you isn’t nearly as spectacular as the manufactured celebrity version. You’ve got flaws... physical and character. Your real life might even totally suck (bad marriage, bad circumstances, an a laundry list of other imperfections).

 

For instance, (aside from Lindsay and her drug issues), she’s dead broke or damned close. Seriously... after the one show she was on got cancelled she lost her only source of income. For what it’s worth, Lindsay is now back to being a person... character flaws and all. And can we/she actually handle that? How quick the public turns on celebrities when that manufactured image shatters revealing the real life person.

 

I’m sure you’re aware of this even in your own Second Life whenever that highly manufactured persona of your avatar character gets shattered and people see you as you actually are in real life. Therein is a major source of drama.

 

So when that manufactured celebrity kicks in, and the public goes for it... in a way you’re totally screwed. You’re now forever playing a character of yourself and not your real self any longer. The moment that the manufactured celebrity falls apart or the real version of yourself shows through, it destroys the mental image that everyone had of you. Metaphor shear in a real life sense... instead of an illusory file or item we’re talking about metaphor shear in the context of an illusory person/persona.

 

When the persona disintegrates (in real life or Second Life) and the real person (not the manufactured one) comes through, we end up with all sorts of drama and issues. We build ourselves up so high that the fall requires a parachute. I suppose this is compounded in Second Life when the entirely manufactured and people do everything in their power to never have that facade destroyed. That’s pretty much the bigger issue with drama, but that’s not the only reason.

 

I’m just highlighting one of them for the purpose of this writing. But it’s a really huge one.

 

There is also the concept of the Madonna/Whore complex to describe men and their attitudes toward women in general. This is definitely amplified in the age of manufactured persona and fame... What completely finds me interested is that such behavior is rampant in Second Life to the extreme, and women play into it absolutely and completely.

 

In the form of fame, even in the Youtube generation, we exhibit that behavior over celebrities – more often than not projecting onto them qualities which we want to see in them. In relation to the Madonna/Whore complex (for which Diana and I have had a really good discussion about), it is quite possible that it’s not just limited to men but also (to a degree) women who either play into it or project onto men those qualities.

 

In the context of Second Life, this manifests in a sort of absolute degree. People are absolutely playing into a character that is manufactured (in most cases entirely). But something interesting happens in Second Life... in that the manufactured persona is more often than not a mirror image of themselves.

 

The person you are in Second Life is (often) an example of what you think you’re devoid of in Real Life. If you’re overweight, you definitely like the idea of playing a Barbie doll that is lusted after. The persona is often a representation of what you are not in real life, or amplification of only the best possible qualities while attempting to erase anything bad.

 

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Contradiction of Mundane

 

Really what this boils down to, and ironically the entire point of what Andy Warhol was doing, is that he was pointing out the juxtaposition of celebrity versus our everyday lives. The things we choose to give our attention to are all manufactured experiences.

 

The point is that we seldom actually pay any attention to the mundane world and give undue attention to the completely fictitious.

 

Andy Warhol was just an every day person, much like everyone else. Just like Lindsay Lohan is just an actress. It’s her job... or maybe was... but the only reason you paid attention to her was because of manufactured celebrity. The product of an army of public relations, makeup artists, agents, and so forth...

 

In much the same manner as there is Dmitri (MassageASMR) or Diana (DianaDew ASMR) or Lauren Owestrowski Fenton... what you see on the screen is a manufactured experience. And so we see them as that manufactured personality. We project onto them what we think they are, and we know little or absolutely nothing about them for real, nor do we bother to want to know.

 

Maybe it’s a lot like how in high school you never thought of your teachers as people... they were very much persona. It never occurred to you to think of them as people... outside of being a teacher. Home life, likes and dislikes, the good, bad and ugly...

 

For what it’s worth, the secret to being a celebrity is simply not being yourself but instead being what the public thinks you are, or in a manner of speaking – doing everything in your power to manufacture the best possible “you” to play as a public image.

 

Unfortunately, for many... that manufactured persona literally becomes your demon and ultimately destroys you.

 

The overarching point of this post is simply a thought provoking look at the situation, and maybe understanding why we should find the normality in people more interesting instead of demanding and celebrating the manufactured personality.

 

And that’s why Andy Warhol eating a hamburger is absolutely a brilliant work of art. Manufactured celebrity, unabashed and blatant... doing something boring and normal. Two contradictory concepts... and something I believe everyone should watch at least once and really contemplate in depth.

 

 

 

 

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So keep in mind, we’re all normal. We all have varying degrees of totally screwed up situations in our lives that are absolutely not ideal. None of us are perfect, and we’re all full of flaws... and that’s what makes us awesome.

 

It’s not how great we are because of the good things, but how great we are despite the bad things that makes us the real celebrities. The mundane and the boring... the real person. We’re all dynamic and original. When we’re celebrities we’re just playing a part... but we’re not playing ourselves.

 

If you’re a celebrity... don’t allow the demon of the character to run your real life or make you unhappy. Know the difference between the illusion and the real deal, and never accept an illusion if what you desire is the real thing.

 

Illusions are never a good substitute for reality, but just like a magic trick it can be entertaining for awhile.

 

 

 

 

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Pixels for Algernon

Ordinary people in #SecondLife doing extraordinary things.

 

If you’re savvy about middle school (highschool?) literature, then the title of this post raises a few eyebrows. After all, based on the premise of the much acclaimed book Flowers for Algernon (later made into a horrible movie), the premise was of a mentally challenged man named Charlie who was given a chance at being highly intelligent through some sort of gene therapy manipulation to unlock his true potential.

 

 

Artificially intelligent… if you will, and an excellent excuse to use this image for the post.

 

Throughout of the book, Charlie goes through the mental stages of growth that we would expect, in that he goes through the teenage rebellion years and quickly moves on to adulthood, but from there it gets interesting as his mental capacity continues to increase. No longer the dullard he was before the treatment, he begins to excel in the academic area and soon reaches a point where his intellect rivals the very scientists who unlocked his mind.

 

The problem was, for Charlie, that he soon realized that the very men and women he originally looked up to as intellectual giants increasingly were avoiding his questions and eventually just conceding that they really had no idea what he was talking about. Charlie had surpassed their ability to keep up and converse at the same level as he was. It was then that he realized the greatest truth about the whole situation that we, ourselves, often fail to realize in real life.

 

Simply put, even the smartest people are just regular people who happen to be pretty intelligent about a very narrow subject – but even they (we) have our intellectual limits. Clearly we don’t know everything, and this revelation is only vaguely apparent in everyday life as we look up to those in academic positions or business positions of self-appointed grandeur.

 

Sure, we’re contributing to some great things in the world, but at the end of the day we’re mostly just a bunch of normal people doing occasional extraordinary things.

 

Case in point, the virtual world industry.

 

I hear a lot about how intelligent and amazing I am, or how I am some sort of genius in the industry. There’s a lot of fanfare or just fan girls who go aflutter or get nervous around me for whatever reason. Maybe I’m famous in my own right, but I don’t really see it that way. I just see it as I’m an ordinary guy who sometimes manages to do extraordinary things (after copious amounts of coffee). More often than not, I chalk it up to Groundhog Day Syndrome – just being around long enough to have noticed a pattern and acquired some insight as to how it can be changed for the better. Is that genius or high intelligence? I suppose, in the narrow confines of virtual environments… however, aside from that niche, I’m actually just a red-neck southern boy who happened to get himself some sort of education in a highly specific technology field.

 

 

The Kanker Sisters pretty much were my neighbors in the trailer park. Artwork by Miimochi

 

 

I know it may come as a surprise to most of my readers, but yes… I grew up in a redneck family, and spent a lot of time in a trailer park as a kid. I’m no stranger to the family goin’ out and huntin’ deer, and there isn’t anything like a good venison burger or stew. I’m not quite sure what happened along the way, but despite being raised a country boy, I took an interest in high academics and research. I’m quite comfortable around the redneck fire pit with a can of beer and a cigarette. Something you likely didn’t know about me before this post… I’m actually a regular person just like most of you are when the spotlight turns away.

 

Of course, I clean up quick and quite well. I happen to enjoy a good Merlot and cultural affairs such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I can fit in with the high class crowd just as quick, and (mostly) hold my own in conversation, as well as enunciate my words enough to where the southern accent doesn’t become glaringly obvious. Unless I’ve drank enough or am exceedingly tired… then all bets are off and I sound like Boomhower from King of the Hill.

 

 

No truer words have been spoken. Preach on, brother Boomhower…

 

 

We’re very different people between public perception and then in personal company of friends. I notice this a lot, much like Charlie realized this in the book Flowers for Algernon of his fellow colleagues, being that in the public eye we paint a very controlled and PG sort of picture for who we are (or at least many of us do), and I was surprised when I started interacting in the context of personal time with these same sort of people who, not surprisingly, are just normal men and women like you and I who happen to be involved with some amazing things from time to time. Though to be fair, some are ridiculous over-achievers and I definitely give those people serious kudos… such as Lyr Lobo in Second Life, who multitasks amazing things in her sleep and I would wager doesn’t necessarily know the concept of “down time” like us mere mortals.

 

We all have our niche and in some context or another we’re all pretty well established in those areas, claiming the right to say we’re all pretty famous for something or another. Elisa Butler (Bevan Whitfield) comes to mind in this train of thought because she’s pretty awesome at social media but in an intellectual and thought provoking way. I could also cite Skylar Smythe in this same context for her particular spin on things. Then, of course there is the incomparable Crap Mariner who likely has more creativity in his ring finger than I have in my whole mind, writing 100 word stories and presenting them with the authority it deserves after all these years. He has mastered something I apparently have not as of this juncture; Telling the chaos in my mind to settle down and focus long enough to form coherent sentences, however much it seems the opposite in this blog.

 

But we are just people. Even Mr. Rodvik Humble is an average guy who arguably is doing extraordinary things in life. Whether he’s succeeding or failing at them really isn’t the problem, because chances are this guy is too busy being more awesome than you are in life. Win or lose, he’s still likely better off than a majority of you for it.

 

As for me, I readily admit I’m no better than the random computer scientist who happens to have a strange insight to many things in the industry, due of course from groundhog day syndrome. Much like the scientists who eventually had to concede to Charlie that they weren’t nearly as smart as he thought they were, and were in fact pretty mundane in intellect in comparison to the Wile E. Coyote Super Genius intellect that Charlie had become.

 

 

 

 

Quite honestly, nobody really has a clue about the virtual world industry. We’re all really just spit balling here the best we can, and quite often we’re just taking educated guesses. Some happen to be seriously good at this guessing game, while others would do better to go back to making video games before they hurt themselves.

 

If anyone really had the answers, you’d think the Metaverse would be made by now and we’d have solved all of these problems; which is only half true. I mean, there’s a Dilbert comic that explains this problem succinctly, and I’ll paraphrase here with: The people who are most capable of making the world a better place are usually in a position where they are too busy fixing the screw-ups of the people who aren’t intelligent enough to be in the position they are in. Namely, management. Which explains why the smartest people on Earth are too busy working for the idiots.

 

Luckily, this has been changing in recent years, because -

 

We’re all famous in the digital age

 

Or at least we have a much higher probability of being famous in our own little communities had we taken the time to contribute something of value in the world. The people who are Internet famous, or even Second Life famous, are really just people who went from being ordinary to extraordinary and stuck to it. As for the rest of you, well, you’d be famous too if you were willing to take a shot at it and really shine. That’s sort of the revelation we’re looking at here…

 

Well that and some sort of reconciliation here about how on Earth my name and work precedes me in the academic, military intelligence, and international world so often. I’m sure you hear the same thing over and again as well in your own circles… the “OMG it’s [insert name]!” moment…

 

It’s really odd and flattering for me, actually. If you don’t get those moments like I do, then what the hell are you doing wasting your life? Get out there and do something that will make a name for yourself and last long after you’re gone in the world.

 

I actually had a few people from NASA wishing me a happy birthday this year, and in the back of my head I couldn’t place who they were, but they apparently knew my name and were impressed by my works. That’s a really… hell, I don’t know where to place that one on a scale of 1 to WTF? I’m going to say it was both flattering and humbling simultaneously.

 

NASA is pretty friggin awesome, actually, and one of these days I swear there is going to be a television show where the grand prize is to shoot some kid into space. It seems like a logical extension for reality television (much better than Jersey Shore), and how to keep interest in the space program going for current generations without regular shuttle launches. Hell, I’d watch a show like that religiously – but only because I grew up in Florida a hop and skip away from Cape Canaveral where they shot people in to space on a regular basis. But I digress into silly and asinine things… I can’t even imagine the length of that field trip consent form.

 

This was a normal sight during my childhood. Up close and personal.

 

My works, insight and involvements in computer science research and academics are admired to a wide degree by some really awesome people in the world. Ok, that’s pretty cool. I feel kinda like a rock star for that one. That being said, I usually turn the tables and say the same things about the very people who trump me up as Captain Awesome. I really think the whole lot of you are famous for one thing or another and in many ways I actually admire you for what you are doing far more than I believe you’re asserting about me.

 

If you’re contributing something interesting in this world, something that is for the benefit of everyone, then you deserve just as much credit for being awesome.

 

So what’s the deal here with the Flowers for Algernon reference?

 

It’s just that, really. The closest analogy I could make for the situation.

 

Back to the point about being a controlled image in public, in private circles we’re pretty normal. Except Elisa Butler (Bevan Whitfield) who somehow manages 16 million shades of awesome in her hair alone. But again I digress… The point is that privately, we’re pretty normal. Every day sort of folks who (gasp) swear like a drunken sailor, drink, smoke, and party pretty hard at times. It’s the sort of realization that your highschool teacher, Ms. Smith, also works at the local Hooters. More appropriately that Ms. Smith actually is a person to begin with.

 

It’s a monkeysphere situation… or for those in the know, we call it Dunbar’s Number

 

Despite Gary Vaynerchuk insisting that Dunbar’s number is fucked, which is partially true depending on context, there is still only a limited amount of people you can socially interact with in a meaningful manner before anything past that becomes a faceless non-entity.  This is likely the reason why I really have no idea who out of the 6+ Billion people on Earth are staring at an Aeonix Aeon poster and thinking I’m just dreamy, or how many are using that same poster as a dart board and plotting in an evil genius lair to assassinate me. But those people are apparently out there… just as they are for you as well. This is also why it’s probably a good idea to put out to the world the best you possibly can because you never really know who in the world is keeping tabs on you when you make enough waves.

 

It’s all about authenticity in the end.

 

Because I mentioned him, I’m embedding a Gary Vaynerchuk video below. Keep in mind, this guy definitely doesn’t hold back on his swearing, and tells it like it is. He’s definitely an example of what the concept of digital fame is like in this age. Most of you don’t even know who this guy is, but some pretty high-up people in the industry know his name and he’s definitely the guy to listen to. So in his community circle of interest, he’s a rockstar.

 

 

Like I wasn’t going to insert a Gary Vaynerchuk keynote video after mentioning him… you knew this was coming.

 

 

The best I can say is, every time I meet somebody that has read my works (past and present) and tells me how much they adore or admire me and what I’m doing in the industry, I’m just flattered and surprised that a complete stranger thought that much of what I had to contribute to the world and that it inspired them in some way to make the world a better place. As a matter of course, I also thank them for taking the time to really digest the things I’ve said or written, and I always welcome feedback as long as it’s intelligent, thought out, and respectful.

 

That’s what I’m in it for… just to make the world a better place before I die. Leave a dent in the virtual universe and help others to be more awesome. Well, that and it’s flattering to have random red-headed British women calling me on Skype and giggling like a schoolgirl because I’m actually… you know… talking to them! Yes, this actually happened yesterday morning while I was drinking my coffee and talking to Charles L. Perkins about the IEEE Virtual World Standard draft information. To say the least it’s surreal… but mildly amusing and highly flattering all at once.

 

I’m pretty laid back, you know… so you can breathe and not be so nervous. [laughs]

 

And now for something completely different…

 

Crap Mariner pops in my IM box the other night and tells me that I really need to be a guest on the Metareality Podcast. Even if I have to storm the building and just invite myself on. Seems like something fun to do, but I’m on the fence about it. I’d say Crap really wants me to hop into the show as a guest… but I’ve never been one to just invite myself onto a show.

 

Also, if you’re wondering about the Elisa Butler (Bevan Whitfield) Hair references, it’s because I told her that she’s so awesome that I could only really handle her hair without being overloaded, which constitutes about 10% of her awesome at any given moment. If you know her, then you would likely agree with the prior statement… she really is pretty awesome.

 

Oh, and somebody in Second Life really needs to commission a limited edition Crap Mariner action figure to be made in real life. Just saying…

 

So let’s hear it, readers. What are you doing in the world (virtual and real) to make it more awesome and a better place for all? Should I be a guest on the Metareality Podcast and make Crap Mariner happy? If so, how do you suppose I get invited to that as a guest?

 

Leave a note in the comments and let me know.