Ready Player One

In this blog, I will discuss the book Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. We read this book during this course and I must say I really enjoyed reading it, so far its one of my favorite science fiction book.

The book is about a dystopian future where society has abandoned reality and instead decided to live most of their lives inside a virtual reality simulation where everything is more “grandiose”. The story follows Wade Watts in his journey to find Hallidays (the creator of the game who past away) easter eggs, the person that finds all the easter eggs will inherit his vast fortune.

I think there are many similarities with the virtual world in the book (OASIS) and the virtual world we currently have in our lives (social media, video games, mobile apps and other IT technologies). Because in the end, they are all outlets to escape our realities in some way. Our world is not dystopian like the one in the book, but we are living in an age where we want everything quick and easy. That's why we have apps to order any type of thing online (food, games, furniture, etc), and apps to be social without having to go outside (tinder, instagram, facebook), and we can do all this from comfort of our bedrooms.

I think by the year 2050 we are going to have a virtual reality very similar to the OASIS. Virtual reality technology is getting better every year, and computers are getting faster every year as well. So it's not crazy to think that by 2040-2050 we are going to have virtual worlds where we can retreat and live a separate life.

Are there virtues to having a system like the OASIS? Well, that's a subject many people would debate. Personally, I think having something like the OASIS would be really fun. We currently have a lot of massive multiplayer games where you can explore endless worlds and make improvements to your character. I think a system with technology so advanced like the OASIS would make video games a lot more interesting. Its also a way to keep everything connected. I can imagine how people would use a system like this to keep in contact with loved ones that are across the world.

But speaking from a philosophical and ethical standpoint, the OASIS would keep us from living our “real” lives. In the book we have two characters that give two different perspectives about the OASIS. Morrow feels like it's a virtual prison to escape our problems and abandon the collapsing civilization. Halliday, the creator, feels it's a way to escape the torments of reality and find happiness. They are both correct in their own ways, I think it would depend what kind of use the user would give to a system of this type.

Keeping a balance between the virtual world and the real world would be the ideal option. Both sides have it pros and cons, and you can essentially view as a way for humankind to expand the realm of possibilities.