More than a decade in the past, I remember playing with my friends doing activities like biking, war games, mountain climbing, hiking, and many other outdoor sports activities. I was a bit athletic a long time ago, now I consider myself a bit of a lazy bum. The outdoor games included marbles, kiddie war games, hide-and-seek, climbing trees, hunting birds with slingshots, and many nearly-deleted-from-memory Filipino fun recreational stuff.

It used to be a time when people interacted with others face-to-face. We used to mail letters to communicate with relatives and send telegrams. It was the low tech days. Telegraphs and telegrams are now obsolete and mail is now called snail mail. Fast forward to the present time, with the advent of computers, cell phones, information technology, electronic banking, and many scientific advancements. Its almost like what was science fiction a long time ago is now a reality. Dreams and impossibilities before are actual realities and just plain science today. Anything people dreamed of a long time ago is now not-so-difficult to achieve, it’s just a matter of time before people can make things happen.

To illustrate what I am trying to say, let me cite the cellphone as an example. A phone before was simply a device for communication right? Not any more. A cellphone is a portable communication device but it doesn’t stop there, it can also be a multi media tool with possible peripheral upgrades like a digital camera, MP3, Email capable, video stream source, and electronic money dispenser. Its no longer just an audio device it has evolved into a video, recreation and information source. The technology nowadays would make James Bond’s high tech gadgets from the 80’s obsolete. Some automobiles are now capable of running using alternative power sources like electricity, solar energy, and hydrogen (from water).

Oh, I almost forgot my favorite when it comes to technology, online games, and free information from the world wide web. Almost everything is contained in a borderless realm called the internet. Cyber worlds are created by imaginative individuals for almost any type of projects. From flight simulation programs, model architectural designs for future infrastructure projects, online banking transactions, global news, no-longer-futuristic scientific advancements, medical research, electronic commerce, and my favorite, new computer generated worlds to conquer and explore. It’s up to you what to do with all the potential power you may gain from it. You may choose to teach others how to make homemade bombs or inform others how to share and spread the love. I hope there are more Oprah Winfreys in the world, oh how I wish she would just get married and have children with the same benevolent, inspiring and highly empowering spirit.

The internet is like an alternate world or it might even be greater or more dangerous than the real world, simply because there are no known physical boundaries. Most laws in the real world don’t apply in the internet. Intellectual property rights are somewhat diminished, individual privacy is somehow trampled upon, non-stop information buffet, unfettered realization of inhibited and baser instincts, and cyber hackers can make or break anyone they choose to. Have you seen the gorgeous and enchanting Sandra Bullock’s movie the Net? How about Swordfish? The Matrix trilogy? Men In Black? Star Wars? How long before the technology and utopia in the Star Trek the next generation becomes reality? Believe it or not, It’s only a matter of time. It won’t be long before greed is eliminated from our nature. Peace and utopia would reign supreme when we have finally reached a certain level of intellectual, spiritual, and social evolution. Me, I’m content playing online games, It’ s not just an alternate world or a mental escape from the real world, It’s also a place where I can be a hero or a villain anytime I feel like it.

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