virtual worlds....

virtual worlds are a totally new social space. the interaction and behavior that occurs in these new online spaces is interesting from so many different perspectives. i have always thought the space itself has the potential for great experimentation. a discussion about the ethics of online experimentation probably deserves a separate post - so i won't really get into it here. the interesting natural systems that occur in real life could be replicated online. economics is one these interesting areas where research is already being done. if we can predict the outcome of natural systems it implies that we understand how to model that system on some level.