This is a critical piece of the puzzle and I love that you pointed it out. Bare necessities aside (shelter, food, etc), we start out with a set of win conditions (from parents, friends, etc), but ultimately we can determine them ourselves. In most democracies, nobody can tell you how to live your life.

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The 100$ is very much a premium tier with nice to have features. The ad free version is around 20$, which is still steep but you’re paying for lifetime ads.

I mean, seeing as this is not yet a reality… Have you looked into lucid dreaming?

It’s a dystopian extension of what it could be if society continued on a bad path. In truth I’d absolutely hope that there would be better options at that point, because society is better. Right now, drugs are simpler and maybe even saner than engaging with reality fully.

Well, in a world that has technology this advanced, you could maybe make your body do actual work in the real world (controlled by your employer) but you would still experience the virtual world as op has explained.

Sounds like a black mirror outline. I shiver at the idea.

Negatives: real world stagnation.

But maybe that’s a positive actually.

I can see the line of reasoning and honestly I would probably be an early adopter.

I’ve had a weird system-wide stutter for months and the usual googling and troubleshooting didn’t help… omg. This might be it. Thank you Linus and thank you op.