Prospects for extending human life on ‘Second Life’

Reference: 07/172

One of Australia’s leading nutritionists will tonight venture into another world to take part in Australia’s first virtual science seminar.

3 September 2007

CSIRO’s Dr Peter Clifton will launch the organisation’s foray into the virtual world of inter-active discussion and debate when he gives a presentation on the prospects for extending human longevity in the online environment, ‘Second Life’.

Second Life is a collection of 3D communities that is growing rapidly in popularity, where the content is created by its users who can do anything or be anything they want to be. Unlike the rest of the internet, members can interact in a similar way they do in the real world. They can see other people and talk to them, but without the usual physical limitations.

Tonight’s event begins at 7 pm on ‘ABC Island’ – a space created in Second Life by the ABC.

CSIRO’s General Manager of Communication, Dr John Curran, said the experiment represents an exciting new partnership between the two organisations.

"CSIRO has a long history of commitment to innovation and the ABC was an early adopter of this new medium so this venture was a natural fit for us”, he said. “We are not certain where these virtual reality platforms are heading but there’s no doubt they represent a significant point on the road to the future 'three dimensional internet'."

Dr Clifton has given thousands of presentations on health and nutrition during his career but nothing quite like this one. ‘In-world’ as it is known, he is identified as ‘Scientist Pedrone Obolensky’, which is an ‘avatar’, or virtual representation of himself.

He said his preparation for the seminar – ‘Anti-ageing and the prospect for human life extension’ - had not been without its challenges. “It feels odd not to have real world contact with the audience where I can instantly react to feedback from body language and other subtle signals and change tack if necessary,” he said.

“Dr Clifton has given thousands of presentations on health and nutrition during his career but nothing quite like this one. ‘In-world’ as it is known, he is identified as ‘Scientist Pedrone Obolensky’, which is an ‘avatar’, or virtual representation of himself.”

Although the current technology will allow up to 50 people to attend tonight’s talk, Dr Clifton said the future prospects for exploring the frontiers of communication and engaging people in science through events like these, could be enormous.

"The potential world-wide audience is huge”, he said. “With so many tools to play with we could also have a lot more fun, with 3-D animations, sky rockets going off at opportune times and perhaps even things like round worms crawling across the set. Strange as it may sound it could be another way of bringing science to life."

Dr Clifton’s talk is the first in a series being presented on Second Life by CSIRO scientists over the next four Monday evenings including: