WHAT:The third Luna Philosophie will aim to establish a link between virtual worlds and their application to space. Also, there will be a tour of NASA's existing facilities in the virtual world of Second Life.

As suggested by attendees from the first Luna Philosophie, we will first begin with a short (~20 minute) presentation to set the tone for the subsequent discussion.

Some topics for discussion include:

• the concept of virtual worlds and their origins
• how we can help the average user cross over into outer space

From Avatar Space to Outer Space

Bruce Damer will take us on a sweeping visual journey through the origins and evolution of multi-player gaming, avatars and social virtual worlds up to the present "main-streaming of the metaverse" in platforms such as Second Life. From there we will boldly go where no virtual world has gone before... into the real-time 3D design engineering of NASA's architectures for robotic and human exploration of the solar system in the first quarter of this century. Some never-before-seen mission scenarios, developed by Bruce's company DigitalSpace working with NASA, will be presented during this session. Bruce will also dip into Project Biota, a ten-year initiative in artificial life and hyper-evolution. Bruce will conclude by suggesting pathways to combine the power of avatar cyberspace and serious engineering environments for the public understanding and support of space.

Bruce Damer, CEO and Founder Digital Space Commons

Bruce Damer is a pioneer of the medium of virtual worlds, having developed some of the earliest Internet-based applications of multi user avatar cyberspaces. Bruce created the first organization and conferences on the avatar medium and wrote the first book and early scientific papers on the subject. His company, DigitalSpace, is a leading developer of advanced open source virtual environments for NASA and other government and private research projects. Bruce also founded Biota.org, an organization devoted to furthering the research and development of artificial life systems using virtual worlds. On the hardware side, Bruce curates one of the largest collections of vintage computers in the world at the DigiBarn Computer Museum near Santa Cruz. For DigitalSpace's work in 3D design simulation for space, see: http://www.digitalspace.com/ and for more on Bruce Damer and avatars see: http://www.damer.com.

WHEN: Monday, July 30, 2007 (Full Moon) at 6:30 PM;
6:30-7PM Socializing;
7-7:30PM "From Avatar Space to Outer Space" Presentation by Bruce Damer;
7:30-8:30PM Visual Worlds Discussion
8:30-9PM Socializing

WHERE: Citizenspace, 425 Second Steet, 3rd Floor, in San Francisco (http://citizenspace.us/)

WHO: All are welcome, from space professionals to those who are unsure what N-A-S-A stands for!

MISC: Please bring food and drink to share.

RSVP: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/217904/?ps=2
(not required but helpful for planning for space requirements)

CONTACT: Sona Chaudhuri (schaudhuri@arc.nasa.gov) with any questions.

Please bring refreshments!

For more information on NASA CoLab, visit: http://colab.arc.nasa.gov

For more information on Luna Philosophie, visit: http://colab.arc.nasa.gov/luna