A New Form of Bully

The real world is beginning to meld with the virtual world... hold on to your virtual wallets!

Posted by a B2.0 Blogger, this story comes from The New Scientist and brings to light a form of bullying that our parents could never have fathomed.

A man has been arrested in Japan on suspicion [of] carrying out a virtual mugging spree by using software "bots" to beat up and rob characters in the online computer game Lineage II. The stolen virtual possessions were then exchanged for real cash. . . . Several players had their characters beaten and robbed of valuable virtual objects, which could have included the Earring of Wisdom or the Shield of Nightmare. The items were then fenced through a Japanese auction website . . .. The assailant was a character controlled by a software bot, rather than a human player, making it unbeatable.


Maybe this will turn the tide on who is bullying who. It might be the small scrawny smart kid who rules the virtual playgrounds of the future.

"The Creation of a Complete Planetary Memory for All of Mankind"

In light of Google's quest to index the world's knowledge by not only continuing to improve on their search capabilities, but also scan in the world's texts, this is an interesting observation made by a B2.0 blogger.

There is no practical obstacle whatever now to the creation of an efficient index to all human knowledge, ideas and achievements, to the creation, that is, of a complete planetary memory for all mankind....

This... foreshadows a real intellectual unification of our race. The whole human memory can be, and probably in a short time will be, made accessible to every individual.

And... this new all-human cerebrum need not be concentrated in any one single place. It need not be vulnerable as a human head or a human heart is vulnerable. It can be reproduced exactly and fully, in Peru, China, Iceland, Central Africa, or wherever else seems to afford an insurance against danger and interruption.

—H.G. Wells, 1938