There is no end to the rainbow of meliorism, no stop to Progress. What keeps Atlantis afloat is the promise of tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. Today's virtual realities augment imagination with collaborative tools for reality prototyping. These virtual worlds are not the rationalist concepts for stimulating arguments and arriving at conclusions. Nor do virtual worlds offer spiritual tools for broadcasting attitudes, feelings, and intuitive values.
Virtual worlds offer immersive experiences that take place within societies of avatars.
Such worlds already exist as Internet test beds in software universes like ActiveWorlds, Eduverse, and CyberTown. Avatars are shared fantasy identities that prove they are alive and telepresent through real-time playful construction. Avatar identities are finite points of presence, intrinsically interactive and plural, embedded in communities of other avatars. The inhabitants of cyberspace are slowly evolving their own three-dimensional identities. Avatar identities interweave human with artificial expressions.