Wagner James Au / New World Notes

2020 has been so exhausting that I'm too exhausted to write about all the reasons why 2020 was so exhausting. But through it all, being able to connect with you here has been a constant source of renewal. Here's my own favorite New World Notes posts from this year — stories I loved most because they're incredibly moving or important, or because they best fit this blog's theme from the moment it started: How virtual worlds change who we are and how we express ourselves. And not just created by me: These favorites include a powerful reader comment and this poignant and hopeful tribute to life beyond the pandemic from Nylon Pinkney's much-missed comic:

Study: Virtual Reality Seems To Help Prime People To Have Lucid Dreams

Katharine Comes Back: Elite Silicon Valley Engineer Who Got Her Start As A Teen In Second Life Says What She Saw When She Revisited The Virtual World

Test Subjects In VR Recreation Of Milgram’s Shock Experiment Still Become Traumatized, Even Knowing Their Electrocuted Victim Is Only An Avatar

Black Woman Under Pressure To Keep Her Opinions To Herself In Real Life Expresses Them Through Her Second Life

Linden Lab Changes Second Life's Logo But Still Needs To Change Second Life's Name — Here's Why

Couple Who Met In Virtual World Just Before Pandemic Now Quarantined Together In Real Life

The Incredible Power Of Virtual World Ownership & Creation — And The Real World Absence That Drives It

As She Was Dying From COVID-19, Longtime Second Life User Uccello Poultry Wrote A Farewell Letter To Her Virtual Friends & Family

Nylon Pinkney Is Offline – And Outside

Was VR Hype Largely Driven By The End Of Moore's Law? (Spoiler: Probably)

Much more to come in 2021. Meantime, start preparing to make some VR/virtual world New Year's predictions in tomorrow's open forum!