A Post-Scarcity World: Coping With Abundance Through Virtual Reality
Imagine a world where AI becomes so advanced that it figures out how to eliminate material scarcity and distribute resources equitably to all people on earth. This is the vision of the Seraphina Project. In this scenario, money is no longer necessary for basic survival. This is an admirable goal — one that could potentially end poverty, hunger, homelessness and needless suffering for billions of people.
Some experts believe we are not far from a post-scarcity world. Technology has already automated away millions of jobs and increased material abundance beyond what was imaginable 100 years ago [1]. Solar energy, fusion power, lab-grown food, and molecular nanotechnology could eliminate remaining scarcities in the coming decades [2]. With proper safeguards, advanced AI could help allocate these resources fairly.
However, capitalism and competition are deeply ingrained in the human psyche after centuries of evolution and decades of normalization. A 2020 Pew study found over 75% of Americans support capitalism and believe it is compatible with Christianity [3]. Decades of advertising and cultural messaging have cemented capitalism as inextricably linked to freedom and human nature.
People are accustomed to a world built on the flaws of a monetary system, where one must compete for basic security. Eliminating material scarcity may cure poverty, but it won’t cure the human urges to compete, accumulate, express individualism, and find meaning.
Virtual worlds to channel competitive drives
If AI enables a post-scarcity world, virtual worlds and games could provide an outlet for fundamental human drives no longer exercised in the physical world. Open-world games set in historical or fictional settings would allow people to live out fantasies, compete for status, earn virtual currencies, customize identities, express creativity, find community, and escape boredom through challenges.
Online games are already a $170 billion market showing rapid growth, with over 3 billion players worldwide [4]. Games provide a sense of meaning, accomplishment, relationships, and escape for millions. One survey found 68% of gamers felt games gave them a sense of community; 70% felt gaming provided accomplishment [5]. In a post-scarcity world, virtual worlds may play an even more pivotal role for billions of people.
Gaming environments could be designed to channel competitive energies in pro-social directions and foster community, creativity, and self-actualization. Virtual worlds may become laboratories for new forms of identity, governance, and economics suited to a post-capitalist future.
Capitalism’s strengths and limits
Capitalism was an effective, if uneven, method for lifting billions out of rural poverty in the 20th century and creating a middle class, at least in industrialized nations [6]. Market competition encouraged innovation that improved standards of living. But modern global capitalism has reached its limits. Experts point to exploding inequality, environmental destruction, the loss of meaningful work, and an epidemic of mental health issues as byproducts of late stage capitalism [7].
A 2020 study by top economists found the U.S. political system increasingly only serves the wealthy elite, with ordinary citizens having minimal impact on policy outcomes [8]. Modern capitalism concentrates power in the hands of a global corporate elite who wield unchecked influence over governments worldwide.
The Seraphina Project presents an opportunity to move beyond the excesses of capitalism while re-channeling competitive energies into virtual realms designed for human flourishing. With material abundance satisfied in the physical world, competitions for status, meaning and accomplishment could play out in virtual worlds instead.
Balancing material abundance and human drives
The Seraphina Project’s vision is worth fighting for, but the psychological transition into a new social order may be difficult for many. Eliminating material scarcity could reduce existential stress and suffering for billions trapped in poverty. But humans also have fundamental drives for competition, creativity, community and finding meaning.
Games and virtual worlds offer a constructive way to meet these needs, even in a society of material abundance. But we will need wisdom to strike the right balance between the physical and virtual to promote genuine human flourishing.
With care, compassion and creativity, we can build a world where physical needs are met for all while virtual worlds help satisfy our deeper human urges. The potential for reducing human suffering while achieving meaningful lives could be immense. But guiding the transition in a just, thoughtful way remains imperative.
Sources:
- [1] Frey, C.B. and Osborne, M.A., 2017. The future of employment: how susceptible are jobs to computerisation?. Technological forecasting and social change, 114, pp.254–280.
- [2] Harari, Y.N., 2016. Homo deus: A brief history of tomorrow. Harper.
- [3] Pew Research Center, 2020. “Most Americans Say Capitalism Helps the Economy — But Views on Capitalism and Socialism Divide Sharply Along Partisan Lines”
- [4] Wijman, T., 2021. The games market and beyond in 2021: The year in numbers. Newzoo.
- [5] ESA, 2020. 2020 essential facts about the video game industry. Entertainment Software Association.
- [6] Deaton, A., 2013. The great escape: health, wealth, and the origins of inequality. Princeton University Press.
- [7] Piketty, Thomas. 2014. Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
- [8] Page, B.I., Seawright, J. and Lacombe, M.J., 2019. Billionaires and stealth politics. Perspectives on Politics, 17(2), pp.341–356.
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*This human curated article was written in collaboration with AI.
