About this quote:
Morrow wrote in his autobiography that he’d left GSS because ... he felt that the OASIS had evolved into something horrible. “It had become a self-imposed prison for humanity,” he wrote. “A pleasant place for the world to hide from its problems while human civilization slowly collapses, primarily due to neglect.” (p. 120)
I do not agree. I think OASIS, like the current
technology was simply a tool in which players could have all the entertainment
they wanted, and students could have at their disposal all the knowledge they
wanted. I think that you cannot blame a tool for the problems that arise from
its misuse, it would be like blaming a knife because you can harm people with
that. I think the problem is that people do not make good use of technology.
Such is the case that today people use technology in a wrong way; for example,
social networks that instead of focusing on bringing those who are far away,
has replaced the communication in person and has even generated problems such
as cyberbullying. I also think that, if the users wanted to use OASIS to escape
a terrifying reality, it is not all bad. In the end, they are not hurting
anyone and if they find in OASIS a place where they can be happy, it's fine.
About the second quote that says:
(Halliday speaking) “I created the OASIS because I never felt at home in the real world. I didn’t know how to connect with people there. I was afraid, for all of my life. Right up until I knew it was ending. That was when I realized, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it’s also the only place where you can find true happiness. Because reality is real.” (p. 364)
I think he's
partly right. However, I think you cannot generalize about happiness or about
what is real or not. Although it is an existentialist theme, it is also true
that it is partly relative. People can be happy with what they themselves
define as their happiness. On the other hand, we cannot be sure that the
reality we perceive is the absolute reality, since for better or for worse we
depend on our senses and thoughts to define the reality, and it has been proven
that the senses and thoughts are manipulated and can be deceived.
In a system like OASIS I see several virtues.
For example, the fact that there are virtual classes and online. In addition,
the fact that you can have access to all the information such as old books,
movies and video games. Another virtue in a system like OASIS is that education
is free.
