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Comment by michael_h | Hacker News Reader

  He thinks machines will take care of much of the work tied to producing food and other necessities. Humans will then be free to plug into their computers and get lost in virtual reality.

Well, that's an astronomically depressing future.

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Said a person who probably spends 10 hours a day staring at a computer

The more technology can seamlessly take care of the foundation of humanity's needs, the better. Leisure is a very new concept and only came about when humans were able to destress from not having to worry about their next meal or getting attacked by predators. Despite all the progress, much of humanity still faces some basic problems due to inequality and access to resources. Technology combined with some other cultural and structural changes can do away with those issues for good.

Of course, but once our needs are seamlessly taken care of we're going to just "plug into our computers and get lost in virtual reality"? That is the depressing bit.

I think he's made the assumption that virtual reality would be the ultimate form of leisure since as the article states, it would allow us to experience things our world can't create on its own. We'll leave it up to each individual to decide whether that's depressing or the ultimate goal.

Hey, I thought the same when reading this paragraph! :)

Are you in for living in the woods and preying for food when humanity becomes a society of degenerate VR junkies?

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