This is the book I have prayed would be written for years. I’ve been tempted to try to write it myself, simply because it is the most insanely awesome, thought provoking, and terrifying premise I can conceive. And I’m very convinced its prophecies will become true.
The year is 2044. Overpopulation, combined with scarcity of resources from droughts caused by climate change, has essentially moved everyone down a social class. The upper class is now middle class, the middle class is now lower class, and the lower class is now impoverished. The impoverished are lucky to survive. Countrysides are full of bandits. Unemployment is at its highest ever been. In a nutshell, the good ‘ol days of the early 21st century are gone.
Except there is one ray of hope. One way to escape, to get back to the rich life. Better than that, to have whatever you want. To make all of your fantasies come true. To go anywhere. To have unlimited power. This is OASIS.
OASIS, the Ontologicaly Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation, is the nirvana of digital experience. It is free. It is an entire galaxy, full of every fantasy and real universe ever imagined: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Matrix, Narnia, Oz, Harry Potter, World of Warcraft. Every game before it has been combined to be in this huge simulation. Not only aimed at gamers, there are virtual shops. You can shop and have the items delivered to your door. You can go to virtual church. You can hang out in virtual chatrooms, which are simply virtual lounges. This is the end-all be-all videogame. It is a virtual reality machine, where the immersion is only limited by how much high-end virtual reality equipment you can afford. With top of the line equipment, players wear full body feedback suits, and can actually physically run inside of a giant hamster ball.
Don’t think its going to happen?
How about now?
OASIS isn’t just about shopping and gaming, it is the most powerful educational tool the world has ever seen. It contains all of the world’s books, movies, and television shows, for free. Not only that, but it is full of virtual schools. Students in rural areas just have to plug in, and they are in a virtual classroom. Not only is it more convenient, but it is more effective. Instead of having to draw on a blackboard, the teachers can actually take their students on historical simulations or create virtual science experiments for them to do at no added cost. Visiting ancient Rome is a lot more exciting than reading about it. There are no distractions either, since the school simulation simply blocks texting, email, and everything else out.
Inside OASIS you can be anyone you want to be. Any race, real or mythical. Any size. Any color hair. Any face structure. You can look like a supermodel or an actor. Its up to you. If you’re a 40 year old man named Chuck, you can be a 20 year old woman named Kate. If you’re an albino girl, you can be a tall black man. And no one will ever know, unless you want them to. It is a place to start over.
This is our future. Sounds pretty cool, huh? Well everyone in the book seemed to think so. Many of the players never left their homes. They never socially interacted in real life. They never had to. They could go to school in OASIS. They could work in OASIS. They could even order groceries in OASIS. Why should they go out into the real world and suffer, when they can have everything in the dream world?
This sounds a heck of a lot like the Matrix, doesn’t it? Except its self-imposed.
The Book
Source: venturebeat.com
I first heard of this book from Jamie Lewis; he recently did a book recommendation post. The novel follows Wade Watts, a poor adolescent who lives in a trailer park. The creator of OASIS has died, and will give anyone his entire fortune that can find a secret item he placed in the game. Wade, like almost everyone in the world, sees this as a way to prosperity, and begins to hunt feverishly for the item. The book follows Wade’s journey through the real world and OASIS worlds as he tries to find it. I’m not giving away any more of the plot, sorry. You can find a longer description at the Wikipedia entry or at the Amazon.com page
What I will say is that the book is incredibly engrossing. Even from the first page, I was hooked. There were hardly any slow parts. Reading it was like playing an amazing videogame: I would put the book down, and for a second, be disoriented as to where I was. It was that good.
The only real flaws of the book happen towards the end, when the author makes his message very explicit, rather than expressing it with subtlety. Maybe that isn’t a bad thing, because everyone is sure to get the point. I just found it corny how he did it. There are also a few moments where the story is too happy to be realistic, in my opinion. Some places remind me of a Disney movie. It could use some good old fashioned Hemingway tragedy.
Implications
The book raises a philosophical question that I’m not sure if I can answer:
If you were given the chance for a perfect life, to constantly go on adventures and do whatever you wanted, but you had to do it virtually, would you?
Of course, your first instinct is no. But what if the simulation was so good that you couldn’t tell the difference? What if you were so disadvantaged in the real world that any escape would be better? If you were homeless, would you plug in so you could be a billionaire in the game? Could you face yourself, knowing that you weren’t really doing any of that? Knowing that you were living in your own mind, rather than in the world? Knowing that you may never have a real life, real friends, children?
Winningnotwhining 