Sex Is Not Frivolous in Second Life

Fortune magazine describes how IBM and other big companies are moving into Second Life and I've been thinking about the article since I read it yesterday, particularly this part:

"The 3-D Internet may at first appear to be eye candy," (IBM CEO) Palmisano writesin an e-mail interview, "but don't get hung up on how frivolous some ofits initial uses may seem." He calls 3-D realms such as Second Life the"next phase of the Internet's evolution" and says they may have "thesame level of impact" as the first Web explosion.

[snip]

Within that digital realm you can go anywhere (though some areas areprivate). There are stores, beaches, golf courses, bars, ski areas,
high-rise office buildings, fantastical anime cities, medievalrole-playing regions, and sex clubs - lots and lots of sex clubs. Manypeople indulge their lascivious fantasies, trading sweet nothings viatext while triggering little X-rated animations. Like many newtechnologies, including videotapes and the Internet itself, much ofSecond Life's growth appears to be driven by lust for the pleasures ofthe electronic flesh.

The description trivializes what actually goes on, and yet it makes it safe and light for Fortune magazine, so I'll let it slide. But mainly I keep thinking if it weren't for the sex clubs and the erotic pose balls and the adult enterprises that have succeeded, companies like IBM wouldn't have the infrastructure to build on.

So go on, sexy geeks. Engineer universes. Let the corporations follow you. And if they end up harshing your mellow? Pioneer something else. Sex is not a creative force for nothing.