Emerging Technology

In 1991, computer scientist David Gelernter of Yale University predicted in his book Mirror Worlds that advances in computing power and connectivity would lead to the creation of virtual cities: micro versions of the real world built out of data streams and algorithms instead of bricks and concrete. The book became an instant classic among the digital cognoscenti and provoked the wrath of Ted Kaczynski, the notorious Unabomber, who nearly killed Gelernter with an exploding postal package in 1993. Fast-forward a decade, and evidence of Gelernter's prescience abounds. Millions of people are active participants in virtual worlds that possess the economic and creative vitality of actual communities. The Net denizens who have built a homestead in massively multiplayer games like The Sims Online (www.thesimsonline.com) are the digital world's equivalent of the postwar immigration to California. The worlds are so vivid that the players now take the virtual objects that they've accumulated in these games—swords, houses, entire characters—and sell them in online auctions for real-world currencies. Edward Castronova, an economics professor at California State University at Fullerton, recently calculated that the per capita gross national product of the land of Norrath—part of the Everquest universe (everquest. station. sony.com)—was $2,266, which is on a par with the per capita GNP of Russia.