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Originally Posted by sendler
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Whew, that was long. I was delighted to see criticism of most of their viewpoints mentioned, and the acknowledgement that you can't change human behavior, but within that behavior, change can be made.
Perhaps the thing I disagreed with most is:
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Climate change is a side effect of burning fossil fuels
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Fitting seeing this is the subject of this thread. Climate change has always existed and will continue to exist forever. Anthropogenic CO2 is rapidly accelerating the inevitable rise in temperature, but it isn't the cause of climate change.
Somewhat jokingly, I offer VR as a solution to all of the problems mentioned.
1. Overpopulation- We will have the opposite problem by 2100 when there is a negative growth rate, which is equally unsustainable. VR will accelerate the decline in population growth as men find themselves more interested in virtual "relationships". Making babies will then become a conscious decision rather than a consequence of having fun. Choosing to be burdened with children is a more difficult leap than accidentally having them.
2. Inequality of economic outcomes- It's a natural outcome that those with greater means to invest will grow their wealth at a faster pace than those with fewer means. Seeking equality of outcomes removes the reward for competition, which is the main driver of innovation and economic prosperity. In VR, everyone is equal. Very few will be striving for economic prosperity, because VR is more interesting than RR (Real Reality).
3. Unsustainable GDP growth- correctly identified as unsustainable because we live in a finite universe. The only way to sustain a growth rate is to continue to find and extract new resources. VR solves this problem because people will be content to virtually be wealthy rather than actually be wealthy.
4. Loss of biodiversity. All known species (and many more fictional ones) will be readily experienced in VR. Armadillo goes extinct, nobody notices because they are too busy playing the latest VR craze, Armadillogeddon.
I forget the other problems, but I'm sure VR will solve virtually all of them.