Fragments of a Holographic Rose: The Dangers of Escapism

This story is about the dangers of immersive technology and negative impact that kind of escape can have on one life. This is particularly relevant as smartphone technology becomes so integrated in our daily life and tech companies experiment how to make virtual and augmented reality more immersive. In this short story theres a correlation between the breakdown of society and the success of ASP tapes. Parker has a promising and stable career a megacompany that he chooses to leave for reasons he no longer can quite remember. However, he mentions sneaking out during his indentured time to go to the Holodrome suggesting there might be a connection in that escapism.

While this is slightly off- topic I find it scary how fast we seem to be moving towards that future where gigantic mega corporations that hold all the power and the only thing an individual can hope for is that they may be blessed with a job at one in order to live comfortable life in comparison to the majority of poor citizens. With so many people dependent on their place of work for basic rights such as health insurance, the cult of corporate worship continues to grow as online communities form around the "hustle" and further extremes are taken to seem productive in a way a company would admire. Meanwhile those at the top of these corporation continue to accumulate ungodly amounts of wealth while most struggle to make ends meet.

Parker's memories are as fragmented and fragile as the rose he breaks as the story seems to fast forward and jump around his life experiences, seeming to suggest that the only way he connects to his past anymore is through ASP sensory tapes. He plugs in the tapes of his ex girlfriend as the only way to sleep and distract himself through the past. He is a broken man, no longer able to build a better future in such a bleak world and only can get by with means of escapism. He has a brief moment of almost clarity as he breaks the rose and examine it as, "each fragment reveals the rose from a different angle" like the way one  would reflect on their life to make a big change, "but delta swept over him before he could ask himself what that might mean." He comes so close to doing some soul searching but he continues to distract himself to quickly to really do so, thus perpetuating a cycle of misery and escapism. This story serves as a grim reminder to take charge of our own lives and not give in to the temptation to tune out and numb ourselves even as the world seems to grow bleaker. It is only further inaction that perpetuates that decline into misery.

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