Lee Daniel Crocker wrote:
> > I just thought of one possible restraint on Singularity-type
> > growth: Procrastination.
> >
> > As more people become immortal at the edge of the Singularity,
> > the amount of procrastination which occurs in society will amplify
> > at exponential rates, leading to a major braking effect on growth
> > of all kinds.
>
> The counterbalancing effect to this is ego. No matter how rich
> everyone in society becomes, even if every person now on the
> streets of Calcutta could easily retire to a large house and have
> all the free time and recreation ey wanted, ey would still want
> to work and create and build so that ey could be just a little
> bit richer than eir neighbor.
>
> And of course every specialist in each field of endeavor will
> still want to be the first to accomplish some feat or other.
That is possible, but you don't see nearly as much initiative being taken by those with a free ride versus those without. There will be those whose source of motivation will not be materially based, much like those rich gents who kept trying to circle the globe in a balloon, but I know far more individuals who have inherited their wealth and are idle than are active and driven.
Mike Lorrey