Retirement is a 40 year commitment to doing something you don't want to do (working) so that at the end of it you can have 20 years you do enjoy. The internet isn't an alternative to retirement, but it changes the 40 year investment from "why not?" (for my parents the alternative was sitting in their bedrooms staring at a wall) to "why?" (for me I could spend 18 hours a day browsing the internet and never be bored, it's what I do anyway but I'm paid for it).

> Watching a YouTube video of a concert, for example, is nothing compared to being there... and even with all the crazy VR tech that will be here in the near future (or even now)

Definitely, but is being there worth spending your life doing a job you hate when you could not do that job and get the same thing (the concert) but with a not as great experience (via Youtube, not in real life)?