Paolo Bacigalupi's 'The Gambler'

In Paolo Bacigalupi’s ‘The Gambler’, the main character, Ong, travels to the United States to work for a futuristic media company. This story emphasizes on three main ideas; media, information and technology. After reading the story, I connected the main themes to the world, to myself, and to this course.
First, after reading, I connected the main ideas to both contrasting countries present in the story; these being Laos and America. Ong mentioned in the story that his country turned into a black hole once the Lao Democratic Republic collapsed. In my opinion, a black hole represents nothingness, and this means media was completely wiped out. If any media was present, the New Lao Kingdom would be in charge of what the public hears and views. If Ong stayed in Laos, this would raise the issue of what information is true that he would

In this particular story, Ong makes a choice to either post what he finds interesting or what the public will find interesting. Every day, I am faced with the exact same scenario. I decide to post the media I find appealing, I read the information I find most fascinating, and use the technology I want to use. As the story finishes up, we learn that Ong decided to create his own path. He was not interested in the celebrity media his boss was pushing him towards, and that shaped who he wanted to be; an individual not a follower.
Lastly, this story has a close connection to this course. In the classes I have had so far, I have noticed a pattern of constant change in media, information, and technoculture. There has to be constant change in these ideas in order to keep the public interested. For example, when Ong and Kulaap went on the date, the public was compelled because it was a change in a celebrity’s life. All three ideas are presented to us in every second of each day even if we don’t think it is and is overall what this course is