(2003-04-15) Steven Johnson Mirror Worlds

Steven Johnson revisits David Gelernter's Mirror Worlds. Gelernter's simulated worlds were going to be mirrors. By comparison, the simulations we have now are fantasy islands... Information about how the hospital connects to the wider city—what Gelernter calls topsight—could be had by Zooming out... "My life, like your life, is a series of events in time, with a past, present, and future," Gelernter says... A fascinating new project called Game Neverending (www.gameneverending.com) may further blur the line between real spaces and game spaces... The idea is to create new ways for information to flow from real space into virtual space. "I could have lieutenants in my cult who are allowed to draft new members," says cocreator Stewart Butterfield. "And one level up, there are cult members who can kick people out. Now, managing that group can take a lot of time, but the social interactions that are involved in that management can take place outside the game."... Somewhere in this mix of tools and interactivity, a true mirror world is brewing. Combine the visual interfaces of SimCity, the up-to-the-minute data of My Neighborhood Statistics, the multiple inroads of Game Neverending, and you'd be able to create a true alternate universe, one that was mapped to real events.