![AB10B38E-D09A-4D3C-A1DB-26017C681C11.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmdBmg6JwuxFRAz7dVizMHCYnLuT5x5Xq8UddgCWsPT7ko/AB10B38E-D09A-4D3C-A1DB-26017C681C11.jpeg)

[This futurism article](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/08/virtual-reality-religion-robots-sapiens-book) is so close to describing Steemit without actually knowing what it is. The author first talks about virtual reality. He says that virtual reality/imagination/entertainment is how we derive meaning. Then he makes a case for religion (and really any human social construct) as the original virtual reality. It's a fascinating and reasonable argument.

He then goes on to say that technology will make jobs obsolete, and when that happens, people won’t have anything to do.  As a creative person I find that kind of laughable in its own right, because if I were freed from debt slavery I would for sure be frolicking in nature like a hippy and creating art all the time, but I loved his proposal that, when humans are no longer enslaved by the current model, they will just hang out and VR game all day. Because yeah, we will do that, too! :) 

**“...virtual realities are likely to be key to providing meaning to the useless class of the post-work world. Maybe these virtual realities will be generated inside computers. Maybe they will be generated outside computers, in the shape of new religions and ideologies. Maybe it will be a combination of the two. The possibilities are endless, and nobody knows for sure what kind of deep plays will engage us in 2050.”**

He comes sooooo close to inventing Steemit in his mind…I don’t think he is so far off the mark, I just think knowing about Steemit would transform his prediction.  This next part though!

**“In any case, the end of work will not necessarily mean the end of meaning, because meaning is generated by imagining rather than by working. Work is essential for meaning only according to some ideologies and lifestyles. Eighteenth-century English country squires, present-day ultra-orthodox Jews, and children in all cultures and eras have found a lot of interest and meaning in life even without working. People in 2050 will probably be able to play deeper games and to construct more complex virtual worlds than in any previous time in history.”**

# Should we tell him the future is now??  
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Xo,

Dflo

*image credit: I cropped the robot hand from a public domain photo from John Hopkins University.* 

[Check out my latest drawing!](https://steemit.com/art/@dflo/original-art-birch-trees-in-winter)

[I am on vacation! Here is a little travel post](https://steemit.com/blog/@dflo/blog-chinatown-travel-journal-year-of-the-dog)