Chapter 10: The hunt is over...

Done. We have read through all Ready Player One novel, and leaving all the plot twists and awesomeness aside, there are lot of ethical matters in the wind, let´s try to land them on this blog post, shall we. First; technology dependence is a real thing. While not as notable as seen in Ready Player One, technology is beginning to take an important place in most of our lives, however, a balance (or at least, limits) should exist.




I do personally see systems like OASIS materializing in a distant future. The closest thing I personally know is Second Life, an online virtual world, where many people involve themselves in education, business, social, and real estate matters. Even some people make real money out of working inside the virtual world through their avatars. I don’t know if something intrapersonal has happened inside that simulation, but I think that different types of cultures may sprout from inside the system, so I believe that our value system could be altered if we spent most of our time in an OASIS like system.

This is not that “distant” whatsoever. Current IT Technology and social media are “draining” people’s time (at least, not mine), and some people take it to an extreme where likes, shares and followers become an important aspect in their lives. Moreover, the dystopic “real world” of Ready Player one does have some interesting resemblances to another fiction novels, such as The Matrix and The Hunger Games. It seems that the authors converge in the idea of some future being only controlled by a few group of individuals or, generally speaking, the conditions they are living in are borderline poorness.

With the new technological advances in VR, such as Oculus, Sony VR and HTC Vive, we already have the technology for virtual reality, improving year after year. And with Virtuix Omni, we can now traverse virtual environments with our body (not close to the immersion bays described in the novel, but beginning to get closer). So, I think we can have similar systems in this century. However, I would be more preoccupied by AI on those years.



References:
Layton J. (-). Can I make my living in Second Life? Available on https://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/social-networking/information/second-life-job.htm

Virtuix Omni information page: http://www.virtuix.com/

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