First Good Use for Second Life

To be honest, I couldn't think of a single genuine good use for Second Life that couldn't be accomplished better through some other means - until I read this story on eWeek.

People with severe paralysis could find new opportunities from shopping to doing business or making new friends in the virtual world of Second Life by just thinking about it, if experiments being conducted by a Japanese university bear fruit.

In a recent demonstration, Junichi Ushiba, an associate professor at Keio University and head of the project, showed how electrodes attached to the scalp can pick up the electrical changes associated with brain activity.

The data can be interpreted by a computer, allowing a user to manipulate his or her online persona, or avatar, around the streets of Second Life without using a keyboard or mouse.

"When people are paralyzed, of course their lives become restricted," said Ushiba, as a graduate student took a virtual stroll through the historic streets of Kyoto, Japan's ancient capital, without moving a muscle.

"But with this technology we can interpret their intention to move, allowing them to go shopping in Second Life or even set up a business."

How cool is this? It's affording an opportunity to people unable to move and operate in a virtual world, one meant to somewhat mimic the real one that we with four fully functional limbs take for granted sometimes, in very real ways. A development like this is something that warms my heart and makes me glad that there exists intelligent people in this world who are making things that can genuinely enhance the lives of others.