Sense of purpose in a post scarcity society

[Infinity16]

I was just thinking of this lovely gem from Isaac Arthur a bit ago

In this video, he speculates on what will we do with our lives once AI can do everything for us and technology can give us everything such as perfect bodies and lots of material wealth.

The question is what purpose will there be in life

Isaac Arthur is asking this from a stage orange perspective. This is important because stage orange eliminates the sense of belonging that previous stages held and makes achievement the main purpose in life. On a sufficiently long timescale, achievement as a purpose becomes unsustainable because a post scarcity society will have achieved everything.

This got me thinking that higher stages would operate better on stages above orange. Green or even the tier II stages would be better suited for a post scarcity society, especially one in which people can live forever. Stages below orange abide by survival values which would be of no use to a post scarcity society. Meanwhile, stage orange is of the mindset that struggle is necessary for living a fulfilling life.

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

I think in such a scenario there'd be endless things you could do. You could travel space forever (each star system and planet could be colonized and arranged in a completely different style and vibe). You'd be able to improve at certain skills for a very, very long time (such as chess, which has something like 10¹²⁰ possible games), you'd be able to put yourself into a simulation and experience scarcity again if you wished. You could learn about and study reality forever. The only real concern is whether there'd come a point at which you'd voluntarily want to quit life for good. Because you'd actually have to make a conscious decision to cease existing; since otherwise you'd just keep on going. That's something I'm not sure about

[Hasson_Miah]

I could eat a homeless man every day of the week. 

[Infinity16]

On 3/29/2026 at 4:41 AM, NewKidOnTheBlock said:

I think in such a scenario there'd be endless things you could do. You could travel space forever (each star system and planet could be colonized and arranged in a completely different style and vibe). You'd be able to improve at certain skills for a very, very long time (such as chess, which has something like 10¹²⁰ possible games), you'd be able to put yourself into a simulation and experience scarcity again if you wished. You could learn about and study reality forever. The only real concern is whether there'd come a point at which you'd voluntarily want to quit life for good. Because you'd actually have to make a conscious decision to cease existing; since otherwise you'd just keep on going. That's something I'm not sure about

I definitely agree. None of us know what a stage turquoise society would look like or how it would interact with a post scarcity society.