Page - 110 - in Cyborg Mind - What Brain–Computer and Mind–Cyberspace Interfaces Mean for Cyberneuroethics

110 • Cyborg Mind information, such as books and articles. Some may even feel a sense of reward from gaining an ever-increasing amount of such information. Improved access to the Internet may also allow individuals to keep in touch more easily and frequently with family and friends.33 This means that events that occur elsewhere in the world can have an immediate impact on persons.34 In short, when considering the possible risks and advantages of hyper- connectivity to the Internet, it should be recognised that this is already part of modern life. This means that if a direct neuronal interface eventually becomes available, accessing cyberspace through the mind of a person may just continue on a trend that has already started. Many more individuals may then increasingly spend ever more time in cyberspace, which may eventually become the ‘normal’ space in which to interact with others because it may be far more attractive than the ‘real’ space of reality. Virtual Worlds As already mentioned, an increasing engagement in virtual worlds is already developing in modern society. This makes it possible to define three general types of virtual reality, depending on how much the user may perceive and engage with the virtual world:35 – fully immersive (with head-mounted and other devices attached to the body); – semi-immersive (with large projection screens); and – non-immersive, such as using a personal computer. The above classification is characterised by the level of immersion in the virtual world, with non-immersive virtual worlds influencing a larger pro- portion of the population, at present, than more immersive forms of virtual reality. Within virtual worlds, it is also possible to recognise two categories, with ludic virtual worlds describing rule-based games involving direct competition between players, and paidic worlds promoting free play and creativity, with less emphasis on rule-constrained competition.36 One of the most popular examples of the paidic type of virtual worlds is the already-mentioned Second Life. Although joining this world is free, users often need to purchase items using a virtual currency called Linden dol- lars. In this way, it is possible to buy clothes or sell houses for other people’s avatars. There is even an exchange rate with the U.S. dollar.37 The attraction of spending time on Second Life is that persons are able to set aside their problems in the real world and instead change their reality, This open access edition has been made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license thanks to the support of Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale.