Automated Virtue

Picture your life as if you've got the career you've always wanted. You're doing what you love and you're getting paid well to do it. Now, you're watching the news and you hear about a fantastic invention. It will revolutionize the world, and it's definitely going to put you out of a job. This has happened, and will continue to happen. Machines will automate the world, and as a society we need to be ready. We must establish a virtuous society that will still cherish people even when they stop adding to the bottom line. I hope to automate the world. I hope society is with me, and with me in providing the best life for the greatest number of people. A better legacy than a lifetime of wealth will be a lifetime of charity.

Vacation in the Matrix

Thirty-two days. Thirty-two days seventeen hours and forty-three minutes. That's how much time my main character had logged in World of Warcraft. 785 hours I could have used to learn piano, to play sports, to get six-pack abs if commercials are to be believed. I did not neglect school, I didn't neglect friends, I didn't even neglect my family. What I neglected was the opportunity to live. So many people, adults and kids, are in the same position I found myself in. They vacate reality in favor of a fantasy devoid of meaning. Happiness is not easy, but escapism will not fill the same hole that social interaction fills. People need people. Relaxing with video games now and then is fine, but if not balanced with something meaningful video games can lead to a sad life empty and unfulfilled.