Once automated technology has perfected the production and distribution of our basic needs, what's left for humans to do but dream and share our dreams with others?
Most of us have believed in spirits or souls at some point. Many still do. It's an attractive idea - that we're really immortal and that our physical lives don't matter much when compared to our afterlives. I went through the majority of my life thinking that way too. This is a poem I scribbled out in one of those blissful moments where we focus on our imaginary ever-afters to distract ourselves from the trials of the present. Reality can be quite challenging and painful at times so the value in such beliefs shouldn't be underestimated. My dad used to get angry with me for spending too much time playing video games because he said it was just "escapism" and that I should learn to appreciate reality but the funny thing was that he would say this while also preaching religion, praying to a deity, and dreaming of life after death. Now that automation technology is solving all of our basic needs for food, water, shelter, and comfort, I think the only industries left to thrive are creative ones. Once all the essentials are covered, what's left other than recreation/entertainment? Artists and story tellers will always be in demand, perhaps even more so as the other industries are automated. Fantasies and new ways by which to experience them could very well become the only pursuit worth anyone's money. If extraterrestrials were to ever find Earth one day, I'm betting they'll just find a giant computer network, telling stories to itself.
Into myself, I gently sink
Opening my infant eyes
Forgetting all I’ve heard and read
Until the truth is all I find
When all I see is I
When all the world has come undone
When all that’s left are reasons why
Return from whence they came
Reflecting back unto the sun
To remember we're the same
"Now that automation technology is solving all of our basic needs for food, water, shelter, and comfort, I think the only industries left to thrive are creative ones."
That's just so well put. Thumbs up just for that line. I think people will always find value in each other. The trick is, and always will be, finding out what that valuable thing is and getting good at it / doing it a lot.
"Once automated technology has perfected the production and distribution of our basic needs, what's left for humans to do but dream and share our dreams with others?"
What happens when we run out of dreams?
"Severed from the serpents' lies
Opening my infant eyes"
Can you elaborate a little bit on this couplet?
We ran out of dreams a long time ago but we can always just keep remixing them. ;)
That bit was just a bit about detaching from the misguidance of others, who only wish to use and abuse you. The choice to stop blindly following and obeying others so that you can think for yourself and take charge of your own life. Making that choice is like being born. Before that point, we might as well just be extensions or proxies for others.