JC Priestman, who has been with the VF clinical trials from the start, is beginning to show troubling signs of VF addiction. He has been seen hanging out around the clinic after hours and the inventory in the pharmacy seems to be out of order. Although he is understandably tired after his contribution, his demeanor seems to have changed and he spends may hours facing into corners of rooms with a glazed, detached expression.
JC Priestman Showing Signs of VF Addiction
The effectiveness of the use of VF in the treatment of internet addiction is still unclear, but we fear that VF might cause its own dependancy issues.
As we have worked to open up the grid structure of Second Life in its replication of real world land ownership and commercial urban planning, it occurred to us that there are other network grids that might be appropriate for a VF wanderment type drug. The rise and conversion of the “open source” social networking grids, where leisure activities are converted into commerce, such as Facebook, Myspace and YouTube, will be in need of diversionary activities to stave off increasing reports of dependancy and addiction. A programmable drug might allow users to wander erratically through Facebook walls, music groups or video remixes and eperience a welcome release from typical daily habits. Integrated into office worker software, an adapted VF drug might allow users to automatically wander through word processing, spreadsheet and database management documents, data structures, or interoffice communications. It would not be a stretch of the imagination therefore to envision a meta-VF which accessed everything on and linked to a user’s computer.
user document wanderment pathpossible resulting document hallucination
Part of our ability to supervise clinical trials remotely involved opening as many telecommunications programs and windows as possible to connect to the space. The idea was that should we lose the patient physically, psychologically or virtually we could find them in one window or another. This proved to be a lifesaver in a number of instances. At other critical junctures, this multilateral telepresence also allowed Dr.* Freeman and I to enter the consciousness of a clinical participant subtly through text or visually-audibly through AV Chat. With all the windows open simultaneously, and various kinds of activity and communications happening in many forms, it was somewhat exhilarating feeling of connectivity. There seems little question that we might be entering an era of medi-valence in the best sense of this concept. However, to call this control, is somewhat of a misnomer, since our highest goal in developing VF is to cause or allow the patient to the unbridled freedom of wandering.
During the first few weeks of the clinic at Fringe Exhibitions we had some continuing problems with what we called the pejorative “bad trip.” However, it was not this avenue which bothered us, but rather its frequency. Negative, dead-end or paranoiac experiences have been reported with the use of all psychoactive drugs including those prescribed for depression such as Prozac or Zoloft. In the initial trials we experienced both in clinic visitors and our self-study experiments, problems in which the user would become a immobile and un-teleportable or exceedingly dissociated from the live Internet connection to the online virtual world. The above screen shots are of one of my such experiences. I also observed a similar instance where the user’s avatar plummeted downwards in an endless freefall, spiral hallucination in tow. The patient and I watched until the avatar disappeared below. I’ve never seen this before, nor since.
The other significant problem that developed was a condition of immobility whereby the avatar simply would not teleport, and hence wandered endlessly along the bottom of the ocean or the sides of the hills near the clinic. This was indeed frustrating for administrator and subject alike. Since this problem seemed to clear up with adjustments in the dosage, calls to ATT tech support and refreshed local network connections, we did not spend much time studying the source of this effect. It may well be a proclivity in user with respect to certain dosages or conditions of the local or public network. However, at one point we did notice a distinct correspondence to periods of high Internet traffic and local Los Angeles traffic.
This post shows the most up-to-date research and synthesis we have done so far on the Virta-Flaneurazine molecular structure. The above diagram shows the script structure of the organic Virta-Flaneurazine molecule pictured in the upper left-hand corner below. Areas of the two interlocking scripts are indicated in the center of neighboring rings. Source input and controls are indicated by branching nodes. Accessing external nodes such as SLURLs of current web events contained on VF prescription pages can be clearly seen feeding into the script structure. “Bats” is an example of a possible hallucination triggered from the script molecule. It should be understood that this is only an example of the possible visual side effects triggered from a user’s psychic inventory.
The four-part diagram below shows how we were able to design the organic version of the molecule which became the model for the script version. The effects of each of these components has been discussed in earlier sections on prograchemistry and its biological and pharmacological derivatives.
The last few weeks of open clinical trials have been quite busy and yielded a considerable amount of experiences and reactions to VF. Much of our attention has been devoted to recruiting new subjects and then guiding them through the careful administration of the drug. The general reaction has been positive, generating reports of renewal, outside of body sensations, cosmic tourism and interesting graphics. Most participants seem comfortable with resigning themselves to the flow of wandering, which is of course the main effect of VF. Interestingly few report to engage in this kind of activity on a weekly basis in their “real” lives. There have also been quite a few responses best described as discomforting. Disorientation, frustration, phobia and limited graphics summarizes the reports of some trial participants. One or two patients have reported continued after effects in this range. However, this is to be expected from a study this early on in clinical development. Besides any psychoactive drug from those deemed to be illicit to widely prescribed antidepressants is known to produce such ” negative” results in some patients. Future reports of our pre-and post-trial questionnaires will detail some of these patient accounts as well as correlate some of the data.
Dr* Pappenheimer recruiting potential clinical trial for disciplines in the Fringe clinic opening night.
The layout at Fringe Clinic seems to serve its function quite well. The real world clinic is similar to the SL clinic and allows for the dispensation, consultation, monitoring and evaluation of volunteer subjects experiences. The installation includes a comfortable multi-position patient chair, exam area, a waiting room and live SL projection screens for patient and public viewing. It is important to study the relationship of real world to virtual experience since the two are inextricably linked. We are not interested in mirrors or simulations.
The waiting room area allows clinical trial patients to relax while waiting for an appointment to try VF under doctor’s supervision. Participants also use this area to fill out documentation of their experiences prior to and after taking the drug. The Fringe Clinic is open 12-6pm PST Thursday through Saturday, September 25-27 and of October 2-7. Contact Fringe Exhibitions, 504 Chung King Court, Los Angeles, CA 90012, (213) 613-0160
Exhibition Dates: September 6 – October 4, 2008
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 6, from 6-9 PM PST
Virta-Flaneurazine(VF) is a potent programmable mood-changing drug for Second Life (SL). It is identified as part of the Wanderment family of psychotropic drugs because it automatically causes the user to aimlessly roam the distant lands of online 3D worlds. As the prograchemistry takes effect, users find themselves erratically teleporting to random locations, behaving strangely, seeing digephemera and walking or flying in circuitous paths. Many users report the experience allows them to see SL in a renewed light, as somehow reconfigured outside the everyday limitations of a fast growing grid of virtual investment properties. VF derives from a formula which the authors of this study, Dr* JC Freeman and Dr* WD Pappenheimer, synthesized some time ago. The clinical study will include an exhibition that dispenses and evaluates the drug for volunteer subjects. The installation includes a comfortable multi-position mechanical chair, exam area, a waiting room and live SLprojection screens for patient and public viewing.
Some of the first prescriptions are being prepared for the the launch of clinical trials at Fringe Exhibitions in LA. Though participation can also be initiated online, a real world clinic will be set up where patients can meet with the Dr.s* and receive a more guided experience.
user document wanderment path
possible resulting document hallucination
johncraigfreeman
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