[ExI] millionaires and billionaires

[David Lubkin]

Kelly wrote:

>Understanding the dynamics of millionaires and billionaires is, I
>think, quite relevant to the future, and here is why... In the future
>ALL of us will have what billionaires have today, except in greater
>quantity and variety. We will some day in the not too distant future,
>be able to produce custom yachts for a single use, not even
>billionaires do that today! We will be able to create our own custom
>planets in virtual reality... with creatures even the super rich would
>not be able to create today!
         :
>So the take home question for each of us is "what are we?" And when we
>become more of what we are, will that be a good thing or a bad thing?

Interesting.

One piece you're leaving out though is that much the same enabling
technology will also allow you to change yourself in fundamental
ways.

For millennia, people have been dissatisfied with themselves, with
their personality or how it manifests in behavior. And sought to
change it. That will become much easier and more thorough.

Just as John Varley looked at the ramifications of a society where a
complete, wholly functional sex change is as easy as getting your
hair permed, where you might have given birth to some of your
children and sired others, one can imagine that the qualities you talk
about would become malleable at will.

There has been some sf that's played with this: A society where
personality is a matter of fashion. Or you can dial down your boyfriend's
jealousy.

(The classic that will instantly come to Damien's mind is Cordwainer
Smith's "Scanners Live in Vain," which lures you in with its first lines --

Martel was angry. He did not even adjust his blood away from anger.)


-- David.