I just came back from a short weekend in Las Vegas – a mix of good and bad.

Good: I got to see a close cousin who usually lives on the other side of the U.S. (Tennessee). We had plenty of time to chat and catch up, which was nice since we didn’t even see each other during Christmas. On top of that, I had a lot of R&R, solid food, and an amazing trip to the Arte museum, where I experienced a few beautiful digital art pieces and saw a fox I colored with crayons come alive in a digital safari. Standing ovation to the museum – incredible.

That said, Vegas was still just… Vegas. I knew from the start it wasn’t exactly going to be my type of scene, but that feeling was really cemented once I got there. At face value, Las Vegas seems like a cool place to experience niche entertainment. There’s a literal pyramid, tons of casinos, and technological marvels like the Sphere. All of that is cool, except for one thing: it’s blatantly, obviously, in-your-face-ly artificial.

From driving through the desert to eating a meal, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this place is just a dystopian byproduct of American consumerism and a disregard for the environment. Every building found ways to incorporate incredibly bright, multi-colored slot machines into the lobbies. The architecture felt fake and sleazy, as if it was meant to parody the authentic cultures that genuinely exist around the world. There was trash, booze, and blatant drugs on nearly every corner. This messy hodgepodge felt like the adult triple-X version of a Chuck E. Cheese that somehow turned into a city that monetizes literal addiction.

There were many parts of my weekend that just felt wrong to be part of. The whole city felt like the physical embodiment of the lesson, “Just because you could, doesn’t mean you should.”

I don’t mean to sound high and mighty. Regardless of my own interests, I think there are great experiences to be had in the partying lifestyle. A part of me just wonders if this level of enablement is doing more harm than good in the world.