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Comment by Razengan | Hacker News Reader

> However, it's unlikely that humans will ever overcome their greatest enemy, themselves.

I believe in nurture > nature, and I see it in the differences between different human settlements (cultures, nations) and in attitudes over time.

In some places you're more likely to get robbed, in others you're more likely to get help. In some cities you're more likely to see casual litter, in other places more people cleaning up after themselves.

For every decade you go back in time there will be more and more classes of people who had a much harder time of fitting into society, along with the lack of many other freedoms that we take for granted now.

Once nobody has to constantly struggle for basic comforts, I think humanity will be able to chill the fuck out.

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I think that's very wishful thinking. Firstly, we're assuming that this will happen:

>"Once nobody has to constantly struggle for basic comforts,"

It's definitely possible. Humans have an immense amount of potential for good. But I don't believe the people in power, with the influence to enact meaningful change, will ever let this fly. Simply because of the reason that they greatly benefit from the current state of the world. People in this class have most of the capital and generate money from their existing wealth while doing basically nothing of value. They need us commoners to consume, consume, and consume. They need us to work and labor away, as cogs in the machine that makes them profit, so that they will not have to work like us. Yes, automation will come. But who will own the factories and machines? Exactly. But even then, there will still be many things that they require laborers for. And in the future, the common people will be fighting each other over the privilege of serving this owner class at the continued threat of destitution. Just like how it's always been...

Here are some videos of everyday street life from a few different countries:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91w4GkdGfVA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u3IB3Jygus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnDxHTaeNX0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUcTGx-pfvI

You can browse more on your own, just search for random travelogues.

Why hasn't every place devolved into chaos? Why are some places better off than others? Why can't that success be replicated?

Even if dethroning the current power structure does not happen, the ordinary people can still live increasingly comfortable lives as to make the differences practically irrelevant.

Look at the comforts we have access to now. Unprecedented in the history of humankind. Sure, not everyone has a private jet, but everyone can fly. Not everyone can eavesdrop on any conversation in the world, but everyone can have conversations all over the world. We may not have access to military satellites that can peer through buildings, but we do have Google Earth.

You speak of factories and production lines. What if they're all run by robots? Or better, everyone has a 3D printer in their kitchen that can just build an iPhone 42 right there?

How about matter replicators? Cloning pods? Medical immortality? Terraforming and colonizing multiple planets? With everything powered by an endless supply of fusion energy.

Nevermind if all that will be possible any time soon. Cyberpunk gets carried away with pessimistic predictions. I just think there's room for a genre of fiction that runs with optimistic prediction.

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