It’s a funny thing, evolution. As a purely reactionary force, it always allows one side the upper hand. They say that humans stopped evolving long ago, when we reached a post-scarcity society and no one had to want for or compete for anything. They are wrong.
Every time a new technology is brought to light, there is a mad dash to exploit it to the fullest extent possible. In this the evil man will always have the upper hand to start, for the good man cannot comprehend the depths to which his opponent will sink. This is the greatest boon of our age for men like me.
In a post-scarcity society, only three things are at a premium: scarcity itself, excitement (no competition!), and power (with no shortages of supply, there is no leverage!). So what is a man to do to fill his hunger, his need, for power? He must evolve. Like a shark constantly surging forward for fear of death, attacking anything in his path, he must seize every advantage and every new opportunity to ply his trade. Eventually he will slow down, and he will be caught. When the apex predator is injured, the blood in the water draws all to see his demise.
But for now, the hunting is good. Full-immersion virtual reality is the best thing that has ever happened to me and my crew. The setup is so simple you would not even believe it.
One person acts as the “bait.” They go into a local VR “chat room” and scoop as much information from the target as possible. Most people don’t bother to hide much, given the world we live in. Once we have a location, the rest of the crew heads over and gives them the business. Break in, break stuff, take stuff, whatever. If they’re lost in VR land it’s not like they’re going to notice. And that’s the best part, really. Looking at someone’s senseless, lifeless body and saying “I outsmarted you. I won. Competition over. And now I’m in control.” And that’s when the fun begins.
We can always make a clean break before anyone gets hurt. But we never do. After all, we’re in it for the power. Hit them hard enough the first time, and it’s not like they’ll be able to fight back, even if they do get the helmet off. The bait usually gets to watch them plead for real help in a fake world before they get the helmet off and their avatar goes quiescent. It will stay there, possibly for days. A cruel joke on what is and what is no longer. A blood-red mirage.
And that’s really all there is to it. When you think about it, you’re really doing everyone a favor by bringing back fear (excitement!) and pain (power!) into the world. Man, when they finally start hooking home security up to VR helmets, it will be a bad day indeed. But we will evolve. Sharks have existed since time immemorial, and they show no sign of waning.
Source:
http://www.microhorror.com/microhorror/author/ryan-quinn/sharks/
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