APPING THE GAME

In 1999, volunteers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in south China were told to walk into a bare room each to test if they could survive 72 hours inside without ven-turing out. The rooms contained just a bed, a roll of toilet paper, a sum of money in cash, an equal amount in digital currency and a dial-up Internet network. Two decades later, if a similar test is held, it will probably try to see if people can survive just seven hours without the Internet.