Just a couple of points...

1) Based on posts in this thread and related MMO game threads, a lot of people seem to think spending real money on virtual things or virtual money is insane. However, what exactly do you all think is "real" about money anyway? Money is by it's very nature a *virtual* abstraction of supposedly-objective value inherent in goods and services (which themselves may or may not be "real").

2) Saying the people playing these games need to get a life is rather disingenuous. Life is what a person experiences so how could playing a game not be part of someone's life? And if life is experience the only way to limit life (in the non-biological sense of the word) would be to experience less. Since the "real world" is the encumbent paradigm of experience it seems like adding other "virtual" realities/lives should just increase experience all the more and is actually an excellent way to "get a life". =)
I wonder if future generations will see "real world superiority" in a similar manner as we see the idea of a flat earth.

First, why is it that only fringe scientists get publicity when it comes to certain research areas? I'm a molecular biology/genetics student who seems to know more about DNA and genetic informatics than this biophysicist. Everyone makes comments about DNA and its functions and regulations, but these comments are oversimplified and greatly generalized. Biologists are still learning about DNA and have much to find out. Intron are nothing new to science. They have been known for years and some of their functions elucidated. Additionally, junk DNA is a misappropriate phrase that has remained in popular use. Non-protien coding sequences are not necessarily junk. RNA itself plays an important role in cellular functions. Additionally, the DNA itself must fold, coil, and commpact at incredible ratios during specific portions of the cell cycle. This compaction can be highly sequence specific. So this "junk DNA" may be very important and not junk at all. Yet to argue that fractal patterns shape gene expression is pseudo-science at best, especially without critical peer-review in journals. Publish, repeat, verify...all together now! PUBLISH, REPEAT, VERIFY!