Second Life as a Disruptive Technology

I had not heard of Second Life until I started taking these courses. Even then, I hadn't actually looked at the site until now. It looks very fascinating. It has disrupted previous virtual worlds like The Sims. It is much more life-like and allows more interaction. I don't think it has much time though, before being displaced by something else. I believe virtual characters are on the way that will be able to sense your movements and emotions. Check out Xbox's Milo.
In the world of education, we sometimes offer cyberschool as an alternative to students who can't cope in public school for a myriad of reasons. I could see Second Life benefiting them by creating a better sense of real life interaction between the teacher and other students. However, thing like this always scare me a little because they give people a false sense of reality. In real life, you cannot be in control of the outcome of every situation, or just logout if you get uncomfortable.