Ethical Reflection on R.P.O.


Being RPO a book I really loved and enjoyed from the very first time I read it, I think we can rescue one or two things besides the entertained story and the wholesome references. I hope that those who read the book can see them and think at least a little about those topics.

In the book, we have this society that has seek refugee of the reality inside a virtual world called Oasis, because for them, reality was not as interesting, or in some cases reality was really a terrible place to be. There is also this world with almost all the resources wasted and in consequence a lot of people living either in an extreme poverty, or being miserable with the little income they had, which pushed them further into Oasis.  Our reality being not as bad as this world inside R.P.O. nowadays this imaginary situation where people aisle themselves is similar to what we tend to do with technology and social media.

We tend to create this image we want other people to see on this media and we care more about it sometimes, than what is actually happening around us. Is not uncommon to go out to a mall, or to take a walk in some of our beautiful destinations in the city and see the majority of people in their cellphones rather that talking to each other or enjoying their free time in these places. Also, the kids and people who have trouble, sometimes use videogames not just as a distractor but also to escape all the awful things instead of trying to overcome them. And I say this me being one of these kids. I think it is something sad, because yes, we escape bad things that we don’t like, but also, we miss the good things outside and forget to live all those moments.  

Therefore, yes, I agree with the quotes that master Ariel posted in the definition of this activity. In R.P.O. Oasis had evolved into something bad, but not because of the system itself, but because of how the people used it. That is something to keep in mind. Then, I consider Halliday was right, as good as a distractor can be, the is just one reality and the good and bad things are out there happening and we are missing everything. I am not sure whether true happiness can be found only in reality, but also that seems alright. Reality indeed IS real.

To conclude I am going to address a last question. I do think that Oasis had virtues and advantages. It gave to people access to knowledge, to entertainment, to fun, that otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to get close to. In fact, I think that Oasis was neither good or bad, that it indeed had advantages and disadvantages and that what was a game changer if you will, was the way people used this tool. As my mother always tells me “Everything in excess is bad for you”. And that I believe is what is happening between us and technology.

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