Algoritm of oblivion. Юрий Третьяков

passed… Max couldn’t fall asleep.

      He tore open the packaging with the VR and pulled out the contents.

      His loot consisted of a hermetically sealed silver plastic bag and an instruction manual, printed on paper, which in the eco-obsessed world was wasteful.

      “Introducing Oneiro-Drive 3 – a virtual reality immersion device from “Dream”

      Key Features and Benefits of Oneiro-Drive:

      – Full Sensory Immersion: The user feels the virtual world with all their senses as if they were in the real world.

      – Direct Thought Control: The user controls the virtual environment and interacts with objects simply by thinking about it.

      – Realistic Dream Experiences: Oneiro-Drive allows the user to experience realistic and controllable dreams.

      – Enhanced Cognitive Abilities: Oneiro-Drive can be used for training, exercising, and improving cognitive abilities such as memory, attention, and creativity.

      – Therapeutic Applications: Oneiro-Drive can be used to treat mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

      Important note:

      The company “Dream” is not responsible in case the user makes changes and modifications not provided by the manufacturer…”

      He immediately tossed the instructions aside. Who even reads them?

      The torn plastic bag revealed a white hoop with a bunch of electrodes on the inside. A battery pack and a source of theta waves were hidden inside this high-tech device. The box also contained a bundle of wires in case there was no wireless charging station for electronic devices in the house. Max also set them aside. He turned on the VR and saw a notification about finding a new device on his computer.

      Then he went to the game’s website. He scrolled through the splash screen with the flight into space over various worlds, fighting knights, dinosaurs, and spaceships… He poked the “Create New Account” button as soon as it appeared.

      “Would you like to undergo a personality analysis procedure to create more high-quality content suitable for you?”*

      – The game has a psychotherapeutic effect and, by analyzing your answers, selects adventures that will help you become a more harmonious personality, work through old psychological traumas, or simply gain more self-confidence…

      A questionnaire with more than three hundred tabs appeared on the screen. “Oh no,” Max thought, “that’s too long:” “No”.

      “Would you like to allow our algorithms to independently analyze your social networks and search history to create a personalized storyline and higher-quality content that is right for you?”*

      *DREAM ltd guarantees the confidentiality of personal data.

      *In the case of providing full access to social networks, artificial intelligence will independently analyze your interests, contacts, likes and, based on the history of correspondence and preferences in the selection of groups, music, news… will select the optimal storyline. In addition, the road of adventures can bring you together with people close and interesting to you, correspondence with which is in the chat, in order to strengthen family corporate, friendly, and other ties… the further description was quite long, but the main thing that followed from it was that the game allowed you to “close the gestalt”, relive the traumatic moments of life again and emerge victorious, at least in the virtual world, while learning effective methods of solving problems in reality.

      Below were enthusiastic reviews from people who took advantage of this option when registering:

      – “An amazing adventure that changed my attitude to life” – Victor, 18, student.

      – “Incredible. Hundreds of hours of psychoanalysis gave me less than a month of playing online according to the proposed plot” – Alexander, 42, banker.

      – “I overcame my fears and was able to communicate with women again.” – Oleg, 37, builder.

      “OK,” Max decided, let’s see what kind of individual story it is.

      “Grant access to social networks?”

      Maybe “Yes”. He didn’t want to give up the possibility of getting a personalized storyline.

      A message appeared on the screen that read:

      Attention: the game device connects you to only one character, to create a new character, purchase a new device. If the device is lost, the connection to the character will be lost forever…

      “What crafty game developers… – Max thought, – one device equals one character in the game, which means more sales of the VR devices themselves, plus constant service and repair of the already purchased equipment, in order to maintain connection with your embodiment in the game…” Max waited for the short download to finish, attached the electrodes right to his temples, and lay down on the bed.

      Sleepiness immediately fell upon him.

      IV. TEMPLE OF THE UNNAMED GOD

      He came to in a meditative pose in a temple with gray stone columns. A colorful mosaic on the floor of the temple was woven into spiral patterns. The dome-shaped roof was divided by arched vaults into eight segments, each of which had its own color and was made of stained glass, the pattern of which was woven into a web. The round opening in the middle of the temple roof had no glazing. It was broken, and its shards lay on the floor of the temple. Eight doors and eight exits led from the temple to the outside, one door for each side of the world. Each of these massive wooden doors was decorated with intricate carvings and a mirror almost the size of a human.

      In the center of the temple grew a green tree, surprisingly reminiscent of the bonsai that Max kept on the windowsill in his room. However, this tree was much larger – more than five meters high, its powerful branches spread out to the sides, almost reaching the walls and the round opening in the roof. The leaves shimmered with various shades of green, creating a contrast with the gray color inside the temple.

      The light of the sunset, breaking through the opening in the dome, played on the foliage, as if emphasizing the magical nature of this tree. It looked like a symbol of life and hope in this abandoned place.

      Max was surprised by the detail of the drawing of each element of the temple and the bright colors in the game, it was as if he was in a dream, but at the same time not losing awareness and control of movements. He raised his hands and was surprised to notice that even the lines on his palms were drawn in detail. It was an amazingly bright and beautiful world. Somewhere on the edge of the perception of consciousness, a light, heroic melody played, with an abundance of strings, promising adventures in a new world. His own body had hardly changed as far as he could tell, it was still the body of a 15-year-old teenager. He was dressed in a white cassock and pants made of the same simple material, on the middle finger of his left hand was a pewter signet ring with the image of a white dragon on a black background. There was no more equipment or clothing on him.

      He remembered Artem’s offer to help in the beginning. And he wrote to him in the game chat:

      “I’m in the game. I need help.”

      The answer came almost immediately. Despite Olga’s threats to leave him without the internet for a week, he was online.

      “Super, mark the location. I’ll take Daria and we’ll rush to the rescue. It’s usually difficult for newbies at first, but we’ll help you level up. Where are you?”

      The control interface was simple, and Max easily figured out how to send his location to his interlocutor in the chat.

      “Ouch. Straight to the cursed lands? This is