Quote 58
"The reason so many people are starving is because we've wrecked the planet. The Earth is dying, you know? It's time to leave." (9.136)
Here's another eerily familiar complaint. Looks like in Ready Player One's version of reality, climate change is here to stay. Wade's solution to the world's problems: give up and fly away. Is he sane to escape and try to start a new life, or just really selfish?
Quote 59
If and when I finally escaped from the stacks, I'd never look back. And I definitely wouldn't create a detailed simulation of the place. (10.24)
It's hard for Wade to see why anyone would re-create their childhood home in the OASIS because his own childhood was so terrible. Seeing these fond recreations makes him think that the world used to be some sort of paradise.
Quote 60
The view was perpetually bleak, and each decaying, overcrowded city we rolled through looked just like the last. (16.23)
This statement shows us that it's not just Wade's hometown of Oklahoma City that's a dump. Every place is experiencing the same crippling problems. This, ladies and gentlemen, is what we call a dystopia.