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<blockquote data-quote="GreatLemur" data-source="post: 3586511" data-attributes="member: 28553">Hell, have you ever played <a href="http://secondlife.com/" target="_blank">Second Life</a> (if one can be said to &quot;play&quot; something that's not so much a game as a graphical chat application)?&nbsp; Those days are already here, and they are exactly as ugly as you predict.But, even if simulated furry, Gorean, and ageplay communities are the inevitable result, I still can't see a problem with a transhuman future according to the way you're describing it.Now, certainly, if the technology and resources to make humanity into gods at play isn't shared equally among the species (and, let's admit it, that sounds pretty likely) then the whims of the transhuman will likely be a terrible thing for the merely mortal population.&nbsp; People &quot;empowered to do what they want&quot; are a very bad thing when not everybody is so empowered.But if we're going to go with the assumption of a true post-scarcity society, where we've all got the power to do what we want, and thus can exist free of others' power, then &quot;optimistic&quot; and &quot;utopian&quot; barely come close to describing such a future.Why should anyone object to simulated depravities where no sentient creature is harmed?&nbsp; What does it matter if the definition of &quot;human&quot; rapidly becomes meaningless?&nbsp; Why should the older immortals care that society becomes ever stranger around them, when there are plenty of their own generation around to preserve their own societies?The way I see it, a transhuman, post-scarcity society would resemble the Internet mapped onto the physical world: Full of unbelievably horrible, retarded stuff that you have no use for, but you have no real obligation to ever experience those things.&nbsp; Find the things and the people that you're into, join or establish communities that work for you, create or share things that you like, and you'll have all the entertainment, pleasure, intellectual stimulation, and good company that you could want.The only grounds one could object on are drastically illogical &quot;I don't like the kind of fun those people are having!&quot; arguments.EDIT:Ah, well that is a different story.&nbsp; I didn't realize that the setting included intelligent slaves and playthings.&nbsp; Yeah, natural or artificial, physical or digital, it ain't okay to keep slaves.&nbsp; I had assumed that all sapients were included under that &quot;empowered to do what they want&quot; heading.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="GreatLemur, post: 3586511, member: 28553"] Hell, have you ever played [url=http://secondlife.com/]Second Life[/url] (if one can be said to "play" something that's not so much a game as a graphical chat application)? Those days are already here, and they are exactly as ugly as you predict. But, even if simulated furry, Gorean, and ageplay communities are the inevitable result, I still can't see a problem with a transhuman future according to the way you're describing it. Now, certainly, if the technology and resources to make humanity into gods at play isn't shared equally among the species (and, let's admit it, that sounds pretty likely) then the whims of the transhuman will likely be a terrible thing for the merely mortal population. People "empowered to do what they want" are a very bad thing when not [i]everybody[/i] is so empowered. But if we're going to go with the assumption of a true post-scarcity society, where we've [i]all[/i] got the power to do what we want, and thus can exist free of [i]others'[/i] power, then "optimistic" and "utopian" barely come close to describing such a future. Why [i]should[/i] anyone object to simulated depravities where no sentient creature is harmed? What does it [i]matter[/i] if the definition of "human" rapidly becomes meaningless? Why should the older immortals care that society becomes ever stranger around them, when there are plenty of their own generation around to preserve their own societies? The way I see it, a transhuman, post-scarcity society would resemble the Internet mapped onto the physical world: Full of unbelievably horrible, retarded stuff that you have no use for, but you have no real obligation to ever experience those things. Find the things and the people that you're into, join or establish communities that work for you, create or share things that you like, and you'll have all the entertainment, pleasure, intellectual stimulation, and good company that you could want. The only grounds one could object on are drastically illogical "I don't like the kind of fun those people are having!" arguments. [b]EDIT:[/b]Ah, well that [i]is[/i] a different story. I didn't realize that the setting included [i]intelligent[/i] slaves and playthings. Yeah, natural or artificial, physical or digital, it ain't okay to keep slaves. I had assumed that all sapients were included under that "empowered to do what they want" heading. [/QUOTE]

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