void choose(uint8_t your, uint8_t own)

### page 1 ###

You’ve always been excited by knowledge and exploration. The world we live in however has many paths, distractions, and worries. You have a passion for understanding the things of this life; but our culture has the combined forces of peer pressure, necessity of work for survival, and expectations of “fitting in” to society.

When you were very young, everything seemed exciting. You learned of model rockets, and had a chance to play with those before the patriots changed the laws, which was very much needed because the terrs could use them as weapons. There were so many interests, like the chemistry set and science fairs (before the chemicals had to go away to make things safer). Yes, in those days life was about taking things apart, learning about them, and putting them back together in new and interest ways.

One day a family member showed you their new computer. Here was a machine different from most others; it doesn’t solve one problem, but could solve many different problems by running different programs. It reminded you of the toy six wheel futuristic space tank you had; a fun toy that you gave a set of instructions, and told it to follow those instructions. It made so much sense to you.

This starts your passion for computing machines, and in a few years you discovered networking. First you connected to other individual computers over the phone lines, but later you explored the network of computers spread across the world.

The capabilities of these machines and their potential becomes your life passion, and you decide to study more about their design and use.

Go to page 2

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### page 2 ###

You decide to take some classes to learn more about computing and networking. The classes are informative, but there seems to be tremendous pressure to use the skills to further the ambitions of a certain group of large companies. These companies search the network, sell advertising, provide authenticated TrustWorthyNews, and expedite commerce to people’s homes. You understand the value of these, but are also concerned that the potential of your beloved machines and their connections is being used merely to sell consumer junk and incomplete information to the populace in order to distract them from achieving more; from seeing deeper the layers the world has to offer.

You are befriended by someone in your class. This person tells stories of going to a conference operated and attended by people that proudly call themselves hackers. You hear tales of all manners of shenanigans and deviant interests; people sharing information about computer weaknesses, social engineering, even lock picking. The conference is in the summer, starting shortly after the class you are taking ends.

This conference does sound interesting, however even though you have some mistrust of the oligopolies who control vast regions of the network, your passion for computing and the skills you've developed have attracted their attention. You are offered a high paying contract job with one of them, but you will have to start immediately. The corporate agent reminds you with a smile that this is a good deal, and one that may not be repeated. All jobs are contract jobs these days, but only a few companies like this one tend to repeat contracts without having to re-apply.

If you decide to take the job, go to page 3.

If instead you believe there will be other good deals, and decide the conference is where you belong, go to page 8.

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### page 3 ###

You enter the brightly lit office to see coworkers intent on their screens. Management smiles at you, somehow the smile reminds you of that of a used car salesmen, from back when you could buy a car used. You are only briefly distracted by this thought. There is work to do, and your project lead brings you up to speed on the task at hand, preventing a competing firm from redirecting advertising streams. The way it is explained to you it sounds like an exciting challenge; you like a challenge so you get to work.

Go to page 4

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### page 4 ###

One day while searching for an article from the site SuperRealInfoNewsAndConsumerGoodsRightThisMinute, you stumble across a discussion forum where people were talking about that conference you heard about when you were younger. You also encounter a very helpful directed advert for the next generation FruitFlavored Watch, which amazingly lets you pay for things without having to exert the effort to reach all the way into your pocket for your wallet!

If you decide that not having to take out your wallet is The Next Big Thing in technology, go to page 5; if you continue reading about the conference go to page 8.

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### page 5 ###

Your FruitFlavored (tm) watch arrives by corporate drone. You remember when individuals could operate such things, but then the news said it was safer if it was trusted to only those with the best intentions – the government and supporting corporations that exist only to serve us. You remember the radio controlled toys you played with as a child, but The Watch! It monitors everything about you, heart rate, perspiration, blood alcohol content, remaining bank balance. And it connects directly to the FloatingVaporService, the net wide data collection, search, and distributed database. With all of this information The Watch will cater information to your needs. Now you won’t have to sift through AdvertNewsizing that’s not about what you’re doing just right now! And you can pay so easily!

Your coworkers and friends think this is such a great tool to simplify their lives, and are envious. You are proud of your purchase, but you also wonder about how certain aspects of the technology work.

If you decide to learn more about the underlying tech in the watch, go to page 2, otherwise continue to page 6.

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### page 6 ###

On this day before work you request that your automovehicle stop at a "coffee" chain that sells beverage concoctions that somehow are a mashup of various languages, recipes, and artificial sweeteners. You may not understand exactly what flavor and size of drink you are ordering, but at least you know the coffee substitute is certified TradeFree. You continue to work listening to a talk satellite station, automatically selected by your previous searches and which ads you looked at for longer than three seconds.  You are surrounded by a sea of autotraffic (self driving cars didn’t reduce the number of cars on the road), the homeless, and pollution. Insulated from this in your cocoon of echo chamber ideas, supported by advertising both ominous and promising, you are entertained by worrying news about vague concerns of “the others”. You don’t even notice that these days you are ignoring the plight inches away, just outside your windows.

At the office this work day is like any other, until a new colleague mentions that conference you heard of, the one that sounds exciting but also has a negative reputation in some circles. You continue your work, focused on meeting your quota of increasing ad click-throughs on your company's top site (OnlyYourNewsOnlyForYou) by at least 5%. The executive VP of machine learning claims this increase will offset losses from the recent disappearance of a North Eastern State general who had secured a continued flow of rare earth metals needed to build the your company's next generation of dumb consumer terminals/activity collection centers.

During your mandatory fifteen minute lunch break and ad focus review session, you think about the conference. Is it time to go?

If you make plans to attend the conference, go to page 8.

If you decide to continue this day like all the others, go to page 7.

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### page 7 ###

On the automated drive home, you are briefly reminded of how you felt in your younger days, the explorations of your youth, the possibilities of the then new network. For a flash you are angered and saddened by how those controlling the technology have corrupted your curiosity, and that of many like you. The corruption that turns hope into chains; possibility to profit margins. You quell these negative emotions by requesting your autocar’s DispensoTainment system give you a dose of RealityCheck (the world’s favorite calming agent), and reminding yourself that you are just another worker, and you work hard at your job, and that there’s really nothing more you can do to sooth the angst of a world that doesn’t understand how much all these products help them.

Go to page 3.

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### page 8 ###

You decide to take the risk of attending the conference, even though you don’t think you will know anyone there. It is overwhelming in some ways, but even in the line for admittance, you realize you are among kindred spirits. Here are the people curious about everything. Here are the people who believe there is more to technology than advertising and control.

You won’t understand this for some time, but the people you meet today and tomorrow will become lifelong friends. Their ideas and support will become a critical part of your life, and may even help guide your future. When you come back next year, seeing and talking with them will refresh your spirit, and help you refocus your efforts to explore, understand, and use those skills to allow others to do the same.

Each time you return you become more engaged. You discover new interests; make more new friends. You volunteer, and become a part of this village or that. Every year you attend is highlighted by sharing your skills with someone new, and it reminds you of the sense of wonder that launched you on this path so many years ago.

You’re not sure if this makes the whole world a better place, but you know it makes it better for some, and that’s why you’re here.

Go to page 1.

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