Schrier has an interesting idea about the potential benefits of Second Life for consumers. If people buy things on Second Life instead of in the real world, that could reduce conspicuous consumption and free up resources for more important uses.

I’m not sure I agree that Second Life spending is a substitute for real-life spending. Many companies are on Second Life, presumably because they believe it helps their real sales. Trying out a product on Second Life might lead people to buy it when they’re offline. (Uh oh, advertising. Don’t tell Consumers International.)

But if Schrier is right about that, then Second Life activity by Missouri state employees is better than I originally thought. I’ll be happy if Missouri spends on Second Life for a fraction of the cost, and takes it easy in the real world.

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Most Americans can easily find videos of water skiing squirrels on the Internet, but they’ll have less luck finding out whether their children’s school buses and classrooms are safe, or if neighborhood gas stations are overcharging.

After I spent a few seconds being offended by the notion that the state should decide whether gas stations are “overcharging” and post that spurious claim online, my attention turned to the water-skiing squirrels. Water-skiing as a squirrel sounds like something you could do on Second Life. Maybe state employees could put a few more records online while they water-ski?

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Currently, it is illegal for certified professional midwives to perform births at home. Only nurse midwives […] can, but only about two of the 11 nurse midwives in Wyoming actually oversee home births.

Legislators in Wyoming want to create a state board to certify midwives, thereby legalizing the practice for those who are not nurses but who have completed a course of training.

That would be better than doing nothing, but if Wyoming wants to get as far as Missouri, it should allow midwifery and leave the certification to a private board.

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It’s like advertising — everyone complains about how annoying it is, without considering that the flow of information would be constrained without it.

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Avatars can make their way through the flowering dogwoods, stop to view a spinning Missouri state seal overhead and browse displays about information technology opportunities and facts about the state.

I wonder whether they can eat official Missouri dessert ice cream cones, catch official Missouri invertebrate crayfish, and dance the square dance, the official folk dance of the state of Missouri. (I don’t know, because I’m not on Second Life!)

The Information Technology Services Division has already hired someone they recruited on Second Life. In the virtual world, he was a kitten. The article doesn’t say what he turned out to be in real life.

And state involvement in this online community goes even further:

In November 2008, the Missouri Government Island was established. A plan is under way to use virtual construction machinery, even bulldozers, to make the island the shape of Missouri. This will become home to several state government entities.

“We understand that we are the only state to go out and obtain our own island,” Grecian said.

Now, I don’t want to be overly critical of this because it sounds like expenditures on the project have been negligible so far. But there’s a fine line between staying ahead of the pack when other states are too conservative in taking advantage of new technology, and going off the deep end. If other states aren’t buying islands, that’s probably because states just don’t need their own virtual islands. And there are lots of options for state agencies to use social networking — for example, through Facebook pages — to get in touch with people in more direct ways. I thought the whole idea of using online networking was to avoid the bulldozers and stuff you need in real life. If you have to create a virtual MoDot in order to recruit people on Second Life, how is that an improvement over planet Earth?

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