Below is an edited transcript of the Scott Adams Q&A in Second Life today. I enjoyed it and got quite a few laughs out of his very quick wit. Images from the session are here. It would have been better IMHO had it had audio, but Scott’s explanation about his spasmodic dysphonia makes sense.
[18:00] Aimee Weber: Scott will be saying a few words, then we will do a Q&A. for those of you who just arrives, PLEASE keep the public channel quiet, and remove scritped attachments
[18:00] Aimee Weber: Direct all questions to me, and I will pass them along to scott
[18:01] Aimee Weber: SO ladies of gents. I am delierious with pleasure to introduce to you all…..
[18:01] Aimee Weber: a personal hero of mine, and a hero to corporate employees everywhere
[18:01] Aimee Weber: Here disguised as Scott Aubos….
[18:01] Aimee Weber: SCOTT ADAMS
[18:02] Mnemosynthe Ash: o/
[18:02] Mnemosynthe Ash: o/
[18:02] Kitridge DeSantis: Applause!!
[18:02] KCP Rau: waaH!
[18:02] Bino Arbuckle waves
[18:02] KCP Rau: WUHOOOO!!!!!!!
[18:02] Cabridges Fanwood: Woo!
[18:02] Scott Aubos: hello everyone
[18:02] Trent Trafalgar: huuray!
[18:02] Saijanai Kuhn hisses and boos (corporate shill)
[18:02] Konrad Jonson: Woo!
[18:02] Brian Rutherford: wooot!
[18:02] Ash Garden: /e clap
[18:02] Ash Garden: err!
[18:02] Scott Aubos: thanks for coming to kick me in the jewels.
[18:02] Blooftar Rokocoko: Any Time
[18:02] Scott Aubos: The pleasure is all mine.
[18:02] Scott Aubos: at this point I will take questions.
[18:02] Gokul Gorbunov: speech!
[18:02] Pixeleen Mistral: when do we start kicking Scott in the nuts again?
[18:02] Aimee Weber: LOL
[18:02] Scott Aubos: nice to see some Furries here.
[18:03] Scott Aubos: and a Snoopy lookalike
[18:03] Saijanai Kuhn briefest brief remarks on record
[18:03] Scott Aubos: allow me to say a few words.
[18:03] Scott Aubos: this is my first adventure here.
[18:03] Scott Aubos: I hope I will not become addicted.
[18:03] Scott Aubos: but I feel my seratonin levels spiking.
[18:04] Scott Aubos: could be trouble.
[18:04] Scott Aubos: and I see a Dogbert avatar.
[18:04] Scott Aubos: If he kicks me, it’s art imitating avatars imitating life imitating something confusing.
[18:04] Scott Aubos: Okay, let’s have some questions. Enough chit chat.
[18:05] Aimee Weber: PLEASE DIRECT ALL QUESTIONS TO ME
[18:05] Aimee Weber: and please keep the public chat clear
[18:05] Scott Aubos: After the questions, then the kicking.
[18:05] Aimee Weber: Yes. 😀
[18:05] Aimee Weber: OK first question :
[18:05] Aimee Weber: Cameron Switchblade: Question: What percentage of his personal online time does Scott think he will be spending in virtual worlds in ten years?
[18:06] Scott Aubos: I’d say all of it. As I get uglier, this options seems better.
[18:06] Scott Aubos: next
[18:06] Aimee Weber: Next question 😀
[18:06] Aimee Weber: Jerod Kronfeld: Will there be any new content in the book?
[18:07] Scott Aubos: The book is mostly from my blog, about 98%
[18:07] Scott Aubos: But if you have a bad memory, it is new to you.
[18:07] Scott Aubos: and it makes a lovely gift for people you only like about 16 dollars worth.
[18:07] Aimee Weber: Next question:
[18:07] Aimee Weber: Cabridges Fanwood: Q: What was the last office story you received that was too stupidly unbelievable to put into a cartoon?
[18:07] Scott Aubos: Hmm, hard to say…
[18:08] Scott Aubos: They all have that unbelievably stupid quality I like so much.
[18:08] Aimee Weber: heheh next question …..
[18:08] Aimee Weber: Movies1963 Beck: Does Dilbert think George Bush is the anti-christ?
[18:08] Scott Aubos: I see you, Dogbert
[18:09] Scott Aubos: Not anti-christ so much as anti-crust. He always has his mommy remove it from his toast.
[18:09] Aimee Weber: next question …
[18:09] Aimee Weber: Eggcarts Ebbage: will Dilbert ever “go postal” on the office?
[18:09] Scott Aubos: Hellow Trent, Plato, Pie Thrower
[18:09] Scott Aubos: Maybe when I decide to retire…
[18:10] Scott Aubos: I will have Dilbert go postal…
[18:10] Scott Aubos: but I’m planning to reveal him as a transexual.
[18:10] Scott Aubos: I’m not using voice because my real voice has a problem.
[18:11] Scott Aubos: That’s what made me decide to do Second Life — voice is optional.
[18:11] Aimee Weber: Pebbles Vollmar: will scott be offering any dilbert comic-like avs for sale in SL?
[18:12] Scott Aubos: No plans for that. I’m starting with this free poster, behind me.
[18:12] Scott Aubos: Don’t get greedy. I’m giving away stuff as fast as I can.
[18:12] Aimee Weber: Blooftar Rokocoko: Do you remember every dilbert cartoon you have ever made? do you ever get deja vu and think that you might have had “this idea” it before?
[18:12] Scott Aubos: I used to remember them all…
[18:13] Scott Aubos: for the first ten years or so…
[18:13] Scott Aubos: No I probably redraw comics I did in 1993 and don’t remember.
[18:13] Scott Aubos: My guess is that it happens about three times a week. It really takes the edge off of my job satisfaction.
[18:13] Aimee Weber: Eben Noel: Where did Scott get the idea to do an SL interview?
[18:14] Scott Aubos: I read something about Second Life and it seemed a perfect fit for my book tour because I didn’t know if my voice would work.
[18:15] Scott Aubos: I have something exotic called spasmodic dysphonia, that only affects my voice. But I’m working through it.
[18:15] Aimee Weber: Neptune Rebel: Do you see Second Life as a means to drive down productivity or to increase productivity? Do you ever think of putting Second Life into one of the strips? Will you ever release a book of all the pre-censored strips, since you put them on the blog
[18:16] Scott Aubos: I think you can use it any way you want. It’s much better than a real life. In fact, I plan to kill myself right after this session and live forever as an avatar.
[18:16] Scott Aubos: unless there is a flaw in that plan.
[18:16] Saijanai Kuhn: you teleprot to home if you do that
[18:16] Aimee Weber: heh heh i think this next one is a bit tongue and cheek…
[18:16] Aimee Weber: Saijanai Kuhn: Scott, as an experienced Second LIfe Citizen, what contributions do you expect to make toi the Architectural Working Group?
[18:17] Scott Aubos: I plan to present a paper. But it will be blank. I don’t have time to fix all of your problems. But I like handing out paper.
[18:17] Aimee Weber: lol
[18:17] Aimee Weber: ask a silly question 😀
[18:17] Aimee Weber: yatpay Raymaker: question: Are any blog comments included in the book?
[18:18] Aimee Weber: and another question that is pretty much the same
[18:18] Aimee Weber: Cabridges Fanwood: Q: Wil you be following it up with a 16-volume collection of your blog comments?
[18:18] Scott Aubos: I think I quoted one or two, but that’s about it. The rest is my writing.
[18:18] Aimee Weber: Drake King: Question, what made you decide to do a SL question and answer sesson?
[18:18] Scott Aubos: If you have to ask what happened to Dogbert’s New World order, you weren’t asked to join. It’s too late.
[18:19] Scott Aubos: Didn’t I answer that?
[18:19] Aimee Weber: oops sorry
[18:19] Scott Aubos: questions coming
[18:19] Aimee Weber: ok
[18:19] Aimee Weber: Lebachai Vesta: Question: when can we expect Dogbert to become king of the metaverse?
[18:19] Scott Aubos: Hmm, perhaps. Dogbert would not be happy with one dimension of reality.
[18:20] Aimee Weber: next:
[18:20] Aimee Weber: Dicky Dumpling: Will reading …monkey brain! increase my ability to talk to RL girls?
[18:20] Scott Aubos: It will make you appear smarter…
[18:20] Scott Aubos: and that will scare everyone away…
[18:20] Scott Aubos: no one wants to have a conversation with someone who might make a good point.
[18:20] Scott Aubos: No one needs that sort of grief.
[18:21] Scott Aubos: So if you read my book, hold it upside down in public.
[18:21] Zerocattle Catteneo: /augh
[18:21] Scott Aubos: it will make people think you are eccentric and a little bit slow. Not special olympics, but still popular.
[18:21] Skeedalee Skidoo: ]]]]]]]]lol
[18:21] Aimee Weber: next
[18:21] Aimee Weber: Dicky Dumpling: Will reading …monkey brain! increase my ability to talk to RL girls?
[18:22] Aimee Weber: OOOPS
[18:22] Scott Aubos: next
[18:22] Aimee Weber: next question
[18:22] Aimee Weber: Bree Giffen: My question: How do you feel about copyright issues here. Would you go after someone selling a dogbert avatar?
[18:22] Scott Aubos: I didn’t put much of the evolution or politics stuff in the book. It’s mostly the funny stuff.
[18:22] Scott Aubos: I do the controversial stuff in the blog because the comments are so entertaining.
[18:22] Scott Aubos: That is the nicest offer. I could use a little in the back to cover…
[18:23] Scott Aubos: my pink yamulka
[18:23] Scott Aubos: or however you spell that
[18:23] Aimee Weber: Lora Chadbourne: was Scott happy with the animated version of his strip?
[18:23] Scott Aubos: Well, here’s the thing with the animated show on TV…
[18:24] Scott Aubos: You can’t get your groove until a few episodes have aired and you see how things work….
[18:24] Scott Aubos: which means half the season is written and sent to animation before you see the first result…
[18:24] Scott Aubos: So by the second season, we were getting our pace and it was pretty great, and getting better…
[18:24] Scott Aubos: but we lost our time slot for reasons that only make sense in a Dilbert comic…
[18:25] Scott Aubos: and once you lose the slot, you lose the audience, and it was too late to recover.
[18:25] Scott Aubos: So it was a Dilbert experience in that regard.
[18:25] Aimee Weber: Neptune Rebel: How hard was the decision to give Dilbert a mouth?
[18:26] Scott Aubos: We had long discussions over giving Dilbert a mouth. We opted for the amazing appearing and disappearing mouth that is only there when he speaks.
[18:26] Scott Aubos: we didn’t want to depart from the strip too much.
[18:26] Scott Aubos: The biggest problem animating Dilbert is no eyeballs. You really want those for characters to express themselves.
[18:26] Aimee Weber: ok next. Slerte Phobos: What’s Dilberts favourite cocktail?
[18:27] Scott Aubos: The Pointy-Haired Cubicle Banger. Deeeelicious.
[18:27] Aimee Weber: Cameron Switchblade: Question: WHy did he decide to make his avatar resemble himself in real life?
[18:27] Scott Aubos: Because I am so darned handsome.
[18:28] Scott Aubos: My real body is obviously fitter and has less body fat.
[18:28] Aimee Weber: Jewelle Outlander: What does Scott think about the possibilities of hypnotism in Second Life?
[18:28] Scott Aubos: But we didn’t have time to build in the eight-pack and rippling biceps.
[18:28] Scott Aubos: And my real head doesn’t looks so much like a cross between a bowling ball and a dishrag.
[18:29] Scott Aubos: If you can hypnotize someone in Second Life, that would be a Third Life. At that point, might as well just roll over and decompose.
[18:29] Aimee Weber: heheh ok next
[18:29] Aimee Weber: Gokul Gorbunov: When is the dilbet movie comin up?
[18:30] Scott Aubos: We’re working on finding the right team to do a Dilbert movie. It’s tricky stuff. Stay tuned.
[18:30] Aimee Weber: Liona Clio: Do you think anyone in the Dilbert strip will get involved in Second Life as a plotline?
[18:31] Scott Aubos: I don’t know about Dilbert characters in Second Life. It’s too hard to draw a comic with crappy art that depicts crappy looking avatars.
[18:31] Scott Aubos: Unless two wrongs make a right. It might be worth a try just for the scientific knowledge.
[18:31] Aimee Weber: hehe ok next
[18:31] Aimee Weber: Mesh Joubert: how do you organize or file your comics
[18:32] Scott Aubos: I just keep the files on a hard drive, and back them up. And my syndicate has them. They just have semi-descriptive file names and the date built into the name.
[18:32] Scott Aubos: (Nerdiest question so far.)
[18:32] Scott Aubos: By the way, the best question gets a free signed book.
[18:32] Scott Aubos: No pressure.
[18:32] Aimee Weber: Patrick Flintoff: Do you and/or Dilbert have any honorary degress, and if so, can I have them?
[18:33] Scott Aubos: I have been offered several…
[18:33] Scott Aubos: but my thinking is that I can just pretend I gave the speech at the college…
[18:33] Scott Aubos: and pretend I got a degree…
[18:33] Scott Aubos: and it’s pretty much the same thing without all the travel.
[18:33] Aimee Weber: OK now in case you didn’t know, NBC’s The Office made an appearance on Second Life.
[18:34] Aimee Weber: so the question is …
[18:34] Aimee Weber: Jerod Kronfeld: Are you a fan of The Office?
[18:34] Scott Aubos: I saw it. I am a big fan.
[18:34] Aimee Weber: yay
[18:34] Scott Aubos: Did you see Two and a Half Men last night? They had a Dilbert reference.
[18:34] Scott Aubos: My wife and I went down and watched an episode tape. It was very cool.
[18:35] Aimee Weber: Cameron Switchblade: Question: Why did Scott decide to speak out about atheism on his blog?
[18:35] Scott Aubos: They asked permission, but just as a courtesy.
[18:35] Scott Aubos: I like any question that gets the readers spinning in their chairs. Atheists are the most certain of their rightness, so they are especially fun.
[18:36] Aimee Weber: stpaulsub Clio: when can we have more Ratbert!!?!?
[18:36] Scott Aubos: I really need to do more Ratbert.
[18:36] Scott Aubos: Want to know some Ratbert trivia?
[18:36] Scott Aubos: I will assume yes…
[18:37] Scott Aubos: The voice for Ratbert on the Dilbert TV show was Tom Kinney…
[18:37] Scott Aubos: Who is the voice now of Sponge Bob.
[18:37] Scott Aubos: And he sounds a lot like Ratbert.
[18:37] Scott Aubos: So in a way, Sponge Bob is Ratbert’s bastard sponge child in square pants.
[18:37] Scott Aubos: Thought you should know.
[18:38] Aimee Weber: Eben Noel: Any chance of a book signing on the east coast or do we all to have to fly out there?
[18:38] Scott Aubos: Still waiting for the best question that wins a signed book.
[18:38] Scott Aubos: You have to fly out here. Start flapping.
[18:38] Aimee Weber: here is a great question….
[18:38] Aimee Weber: Cabridges Fanwood: Do you think the political process would be improved if candidates allowed citizens to kick them in the balls?
[18:39] Scott Aubos: Yes, it would be better….
[18:39] Scott Aubos: but my ultimate political system would involve…
[18:39] Scott Aubos: each resident having a button that votes whether the leader should be killed…
[18:40] Scott Aubos: and when the popularity gets below say 20%, he goes up in a ball of fire.
[18:40] Scott Aubos: It would keep them on their toes.
[18:40] Aimee Weber: AnneDroid Lily: (question for scott) Which is more dangerous: dilbert with a machine gun, dogbert with a garrote, or catbert with a “request denied” rubber stamp?
[18:41] Aimee Weber: OK guys…
[18:41] Scott Aubos: I will take some questions while you kick me now.
[18:41] Aimee Weber: we are going to finish up the questions we have recieved…
[18:42] Aimee Weber: everybody take turns kicking and abusing scott
[18:42] Aimee Weber: sit on the red ball…and press the video game style buttons
[18:42] Aimee Weber: folks are invited to hop on the stage 😀
[18:42] Scott Aubos: was that as fun as it looked
[18:42] Movies1963 Beck: HOLY SHIT!!!
[18:42] Scott Aubos: next
[18:42] Scott Aubos: c’mon, you know you have a reason
[18:43] Aimee Weber: Mnemosynthe Ash: I’d like to know if he still believes in / performs daily affirmations like he wrote about in the Dilbert Principle.
[18:43] Scott Aubos: always a crowd pelaser
[18:43] Scott Aubos: ow!
[18:44] Scott Aubos: I’m going to dress up as Stephan Pastis, the guy who does Pearls Before Swine.
[18:44] Aimee Weber: lol
[18:44] Aimee Weber: ouch
[18:44] Scott Aubos: good one
[18:44] Launa Fauna: I love Second Life. ):
[18:44] Scott Aubos: I don’t do affirmations daily, but I do focus on my goals…ow….
[18:44] Aimee Weber: that looks so good it almost makes me wish i had balls
[18:45] Scott Aubos: missed!
[18:46] Scott Aubos: This actually hurst.
[18:46] Scott Aubos: hurts.
[18:46] Scott Aubos: eeeeya
[18:46] Scott Aubos: And I can answer questions with one testicle tied behind my back.
technorati tags: 