Second Life and the powers of ten
So remember when you're feeling very small and insecure,
how amazingly unlikely is your birth
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
'cause there's bugger all down here on Earth!
- From Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
In 1977 Charles and Ray Eames created a documentary called the Powers of 10 which gave viewers a mind-changing perspective on just how small we are in comparison to our universe. In the spirit of this film, I thought I would take you all on a quick photographic journey of Second Life, starting with the smallest objects possible and ending with a view of everything, all that there is. I will be adjusting scale for aesthetics rather than using an exponential scale, which is particularly handy since Second Life is not QUITE as large as the real-world universe. But I think you will be surprised to see just how big it is.
So let the journey begin!
0.01 Meters - We start with the delicate clasp of Aimee's choker. This piece of jewelry was created by using specially cut tori that allow prim sizes well below the normal limits. If desired, a Second Life designer could create elaborate and beautiful builds, entire worlds, on the tip of a finger using these "micro-prims."
1 Meter - At this distance we can see Aimee and the detail in her wings. You can also see the individual strands in her piggytail ribbons, and the stripes in her stockings. If you look very closely you can even see the tag on the back of her shirt. Her choker is clearly visible but the chain is nothing more than a faint blur on the back of her neck.
10 Meters - We see Aimee sitting in the grass on the bank of a river. We can no longer make out the fine details in her ribbons or her wings. Instead, her tutu dominates the scene making her look like a giant green dot.
100 Meters - We can now see the detail of Aimee's location. There is a river that runs along a rocky cliff. A tree house can be seen to the northwest and a boardwalk to the southwest. Aimee is nothing more than a green smudge near a little blue pond.
1000 Meters - We can now see the river as it joins other streams. A highway crosses from east to west. To the northeast we can see an urban area with skyscrapers. Aimee is no longer visible, not even as a speck.
2000 Meters - We can barely see the river as part of a complex array of streams and bodies of water. We can also make out highways and larger builds, but the skyscrapers are no longer visible except as specks.
7000 Meters - We are now seeing our continent. While rivers are difficult to see, we are able to make out large bodies of water. To the south we see an arctic region and to the north we see hints of another continent connected by a thin line of water regions.
12000 Meters - We can clearly see the shape of both continents and are better able to identify the arctic region to the south. Neon green dots pepper the land, each representing groups of people socializing, building, organizing, or just relaxing. The large green dot in the center is Aimee, sitting by a river.
25000 Meters - The continent now looks like a smudge in the center of a giant ocean. We can see two more continents to the south and to the northeast. The pale green dots represent telehubs for the massive archipelago of islands sims.
60000 Meters - The image is off center to show more of the world. Our continent is now just a tiny patch of green slightly southeast of center. Continents can be found all over the eastern half of the grid while the rest is so tightly packed with island sims that they almost appear solid green.
Somewhere down there, in that gargantuan collection of land, rivers, lakes, homes, businesses, groups, friendships, romances, rivalries, invention, and human connections ... is Aimee. Sitting by a river.
