If You Want a Vision of the Future, Imagine a Toddler Swiping on Tiktok, Forever.
(Do you think that the world of 2040 is, on balance, likely going to be better than the world of 2020? Why/why not?):
It’s going to be a lot more unequal, that’s for sure, so depends which side of the fence you’re on. Do your best to make sure you own some of the means of production. However, this inequality will not just be between financial, cognitive, or geographic haves/have-nots. It will also be between people who have found a way of life which protects them from the social pathologies of technology, and those who are entirely mastered by psychologically manipulative algorithms/memeplexes. By 2040 who knows if healthy human cognitive development will even be possible outside of subcultures which nurture it - if you want a vision of the future, imagine a toddler swiping on TikTok, forever. Your inmost autonomy is under threat unless you take proactive steps to secure it. On the plus side, by 2040 this will be obvious to any thinking person, and myriad counter-movements will blossom. Try to be part of one. Expect serious NPC push-back, of course - “free thought” proponents will probably be treated like “free speech” is today, with a wide spectrum of popular opinions ranging from “free thought is in real danger” to “free thought isn’t in danger, and it’s a good thing that it is.” Nobody will know whether libertarians still exist, or been replaced with bots droning “a private corporation has a right to do what it wants to your brain.”
Cherish your mind. It’s the only thing you truly own.