The Veldt: From this article, I imagined a therapeutic device that can feel the changes of people’s emotions and project the corresponding situation. Most people in modern society have some mental problems. These psychological problems may originate from people’s poor emotional states. The artifact can detect people’s heart and brain electrical signals to feel people’s mood fluctuations, and create a beautiful environment in a confined space in the form of holographic projection, which can treat negative emotions. Based on people’s feedback, the artifact then modulates the world it creates to suit the patients’ moods better. Modern technology may still have some shortcomings in holographic projection, but I think it should be practical theoretically. The underlying problem with this artifact is that if it is used too much, patients may become dependent on it and become addicted to the virtual world, leading to more complex psychological problems.
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas: From this article, I imagined a simple artifact that collects people’s guilt and regrets by asking people to input one sentence to the little kid every day. All the guilt and regrets are stored together day by day, gradually filling up a virtual teardrop showing on the screen. As long as the teardrop is filled, the artifact would offer the people a choice to have a look at the little kid and then leave the city. The technology is simple and practical. The problem it may bring is the loss of population. However, it may release the pressure in people’s heart caused by immorality to some extent, which offers the people a choice to follow their own will, directed by the humanity and morality in their heart.
The Plague: Based on this fiction, I came up with the idea that there may be an artifact which could slow down or speed up people’s senses and consciousness through controlling our neural signals. Depending on users’ choice, this artifact may either slow down people’s senses so that they could feel more and sense more in the same period of time, which indirectally makes them feel like they have done more in that time period. However, this machine may bring health issues to humans’ body, for we might not know what influences it may cause to human brains and nervous system, and technically, it seems impossible to achieve with the present modern technology.