Richard Posner guest blogging at Lawrence Lessig: "Even in the current, primitive stage of online video world technology, literally millions of people are participating, many obsessively; the use of real money to purchase game money with which to buy equipment, clothing, and other assets in the video world is already a big business. A few years hence, people will be interacting in the video world by brainwaves alone, and in that “no hands” context they may forget who and where they are. The social consequences could be immense, and the political as well if government obtains control of the chips implanted in people’s brains to enable them to play and of the signals communicated to those chips. "

Read the whole thing for an in-depth look at how close we are, and some suggestive thoughts about the social impact of more detailed virtual worlds.