Just had a chat with Joachim Stein, a good friend of mine based in Berlin. Joachim is primarily working as a technical consultant for cultural institutions. In his remaining time he’s a conceptual artist making works which are “as de-materialized as possible”. Recently his interest is drawn towards MMORPG’s and mainly the economical side of these games.

The Supicious Nota Bene The interesting bits from our conversation can be listened to here [39 minutes, MP3]. We’re talking about trust, a recent media trustworthiness survey, the nature of online institutions, web 2.0 and economic history. Joachim also shares his experiences with Second Life, among other things telling a trust-related story involving virtual land, a “notary machine” and a Californian hippie.

NOTE: Joachim just confirmed that there is indeed some social networking functionality built into SL.