Your computer can kill you

That is the conclusion I came to after reading this article from Reuters.

In summary, a Chinese man died after a three-day internet gaming session. Let me repeat that: he died. The cause of death is currently being treated as "exhaustion" by the police. Suicide was ruled out, and considering he was in an internet cafe, I am not sure why it was ever considered a possibility.

In light of this new information concerning the danger of computers, I am thankful that I am not as devoted to thesis writing as he was to internet gaming (~12 hours/day for me vs. 24 hours/day for him). Also, it is clear that I am not pushing the envelope with my "lax" schedule. For instance, my eyes get tired from staring at a monitor all day, and I my brain slows a little and I feel mentally tired, but I have never even come remotely close to "exhaustion". In fact, I often feel the need to stand up and walk around for a few minutes every now and then.

I have a theory. My thesis writing is mentally laborious, and perhaps incurs a different type of tiredness, while his gaming must have been physically laborious due to complete lack of sleep. Perhaps a consistent adrenaline rush from killing other players (or who knows what, since the name of the game was not released) was able to stave off sleep long enough for him to reach physical exhaustion.

Regardless, I think that we should now view computers in a different light: not as nice little plastic and metal boxes that increase productivity, act as gateways for entertainment, and allow fast and easy communication, but as machines programmed to kill us.

You have been warned.