I never thought when writing programs that I'd have to ask myself "Am I doing good or evil in the world here?" After all, it's just so many bytes, right?
But I'm not so sure about that anymore.
Opening paragraph: "At least three people have died playing online games for days without rest. People have lost their spouses, jobs, and children to World of Warcraft. If people have the right to play video games - and it's hard to imagine a more fundamental right - then the market is going to respond by supplying the most engaging video games that can be sold, to the point that exceptionally engaged consumers are removed from the gene pool."
Music: The one that gets noticed over the clutter wins.
Games: The one that's the best at giving us the illusion of social status and accomplishment wins.
None of these things are really competing against each other, because the hook for each is targeting a different need.
And I do think there is a way out. Change our environment so that our lives aren't so hollow and empty. The reason these addictions take hold is because, for example, people are accomplishing absolutely zero in their lives so they need the fake feeling of accomplishment and respect from hitting level 60 in WoW. If we re-engineer society so that people actually have an opportunity to make friends, do productive work, get exercise, etc. these things won't be nearly as dangerous as they are today.
Those are the lures that each niche uses, sure, but the result is that we lose time. The result is the problem, not the drug packaging or delivery mechanism.
If anything, that makes it more disturbing: whatever our psychological needs, there's electronic joy out there competing for them.
Not sure how it will play out. I'm an optimist, but after I wrote this it's kind of drug me down. I'm sure we'll muddle through somehow as a species. We always do.
The problem is that the counterculture rejects that stuff - partly because it's true that a lot of people who do all that are shallow and annoying. (The counterculture's just as bad, of course.) If you drop out and eat too much and don't make friends, you're bucking the trend, you're rebelling. That's how it is among a lot of younger kids, anyway: past a certain point obesity is just a matter of not caring enough to keep care of yourself.
Someone has taken your (and DanielBMarkhams) arguments to their logical consequences...