again i think the biggest question in

maybe in economics and politics of the

coming decades will be what to do

with all these useless people

the problem is more

boredom and how what to do with them and

how will they find some sense of meaning

in life when they are basically

meaningless worthless

my best guess at present is a

combination of drugs and computer games

as a solution for more it’s already

happening

uh in in in under different titles

different headings you see more and more

people spending more and more time or

solving the inner problems with the

drugs and computer games both legal

drugs and illegal drugs

you look at japan today and japan is

maybe 20 years ahead of the world in

everything

and you see all these new social

phenomena of people having relationships

with virtual

virtual spouses and you have people who

never leave the house and just live

through computers

i think once you’re superfluous you

don’t have power

again we are used to the age of the

masses of the 19th and 20th century but

we all we

saw all these successful

massive uprisings revolutions revolts

so we got

we are used to thinking about the masses

as powerful

but this is basically a 19th century and

20th century phenomenon

i don’t think that the masters even if

they they somehow organize themselves

uh stand much of a chance

we are not in in russia of 1917 or in

19th century europe

what we are talking about now is like a

second industrial revolution but the

product this time will not be textiles

or machines or vehicles or even weapons

the product this time will be humans

themselves we are basically learning to

produce bodies and minds bodies and

minds are going to visit i think the two

main products of the next wave of all

these

changes

that is is optional again and if you

think about it from the viewpoint of the

poor

it looks terrible because throughout

history death was the great equalizer

the big consolation of the poor

throughout history was that okay these

rich people they have it good but

they’re going to die just like me

but think about the world saying 50

years 100 years where the poor people

continue to die but the rich people in

addition to all the other things they

get they also get a

exemption from death

once you really solve a problem like

direct brain computer interface when

brains and computers can interact

directly

for example to take just one example

that’s it that’s the end of history

that’s the end of biology as we know it

nobody has a clue once what will happen

once you once you solve this

if life can basically break out of the

organic realm

into the vastness of the inorganic realm

and you cannot even begin to imagine

what the consequences will be because

your our imagination at present is

organic

so it’s

um

if there is a point of singularity as

it’s often referred to by definition we

have no way of even ima starting to

imagine what’s happening beyond that

um looking before the point of

singularity just as a trend is is

gathering pace

is the new attitude i think is to treat

old age and death as technical problems

no different in essence than any other

disease it’s like cancer it’s like

alzheimer’s it’s like tuberculosis maybe

we still don’t know

all the mechanisms and all the remedies

but in principle people always die for

one reason and one reason only and then

these are technical reasons not

metaphysical reasons

people today actually manage to live

many people as isolated alienated

individuals in the most advanced

societies many people live as alienated

individuals with no community to speak

about with a very small family it’s no

longer the big

uh

extended family it’s now a very small

family maybe just maybe just a spouse

maybe one or two children and even they

they might live in a different city in a

different country and you see them maybe

once in every few months and that’s it

after millions of years of of of

evolution suddenly within 200 years the

family and the intimate community break

that they collapse

most of the roles

filled by the family and by the intimate

community for thousands and tens of

thousands of years are transferred very

quickly

to new

networks

provided by the state and the market

you don’t need children you can have a

pension fund you don’t need somebody to

take

care of you you don’t need neighbors and

and sisters or brothers to take care of

you when you’re sick the state takes

care of you the states provide you with

police with education with help with

everything

in terms of ideas in terms of religions

the most interesting place today in the

world in religious terms is silicon

valley it’s not the middle east

this is where the new religions are

being created now by people like ray

kutzweil

and this these are the religions that

will take over the world