Adaptation to hypercomfort
Most societies today are either in the state of hypercomfort (https://chaource.dreamwidth.org/tag/hypercomfort) or on the move towards hypercomfort (HC).
Examples of empirically observable HC conditions are printed warnings that knives or tape-cutters "have sharp edges"; paved and marked roads in natural parks, with signage that warns people about going into "dangerous" areas; fences around all elevated areas on bridges and towers to prevent people from falling; and ubiquitous hygienic toilets with hot water and antiseptic hand sanitizers.
People have different attitudes with respect to hypercomfort (HC). The first HC generation (HC-1) views the achievements of hypercomfort as a veritable paradise. These people endured dire circumstances and hardship (famine, war, etc.) and finally reached unprecedented prosperity and safety. Their worldview is "life is a constant calamity, but we are lucky to be here and to live like this (i.e. in hypercomfort)".
The second generation (HC-2) experienced HC since childhood but are constantly reminded by their first-generation parents that hardship exists and that one must make efforts in life. So, HC-2 people still make significant efforts and view the HC conditions as their earned reward. Their worldview is "life is great here, and we will work hard to keep it that way".
The third generation (HC-3) is not aware of a possibility of any non-HC conditions, either presently or in the past. News about any violation of HC (e.g. hunger in under-developed countries) are perceived as a natural disaster whose consequences somebody needs to eliminate from the world. HC-3 people are also unaware about how HC was achieved in the first place; they perceive HC as a self-evident condition of life that somebody somehow maintains (or that is maintained by itself with no effort from anyone). The typical attitude of HC-3 people is "entitledness", i.e. unwillingness to put out a sustained work effort or to sacrifice short-term convenience for long-term gains, and yet willingness to demand that somebody should fulfill their wishes. Their worldview is "why am I not getting what I want more quickly".
The three generations are not necessarily literally parents of each other, because everyone's personal history is different. People cannot be easily classified by age. Everyone will have a mixture of attitudes typified by these categories of people. I will refer to HC-1, HC-2, and HC-3 in this sense.
I think hypercomfort will lead, in the long term, to disintegration of the social and technological world we live in. The political and economic structure of most of our societies will break down if HC-3 people are in the majority, because not enough people will put out the needed efforts to keep HC going. However, even assuming this is true, the disintegration will take several decades because, at any time, there will be still a lot of people from HC-1 and HC-2 generations that are willing to work for others.
So, the question is - how can people adapt to this condition? Given that HC is not going away any time soon, adaptation will happen; people are not idiots and they will adapt to changing conditions to maximize their perceived well-being. What are the necessary adaptations of the society, and what are the necessary adaptations of people who live in those societies? This is what seems to be the likely adaptations:
1. Permit a massive immigration, giving preference to immigrants from non-HC countries. These immigrants are most likely to provide HC-1 and HC-2 sub-populations willing to work (e.g. clean toilets, fix computers, etc.) to sustain the status quo for a while longer.
2. Keep the HC-3 people happy by protecting them even more from any knowledge of non-HC reality. Prohibit all speech with cultural references to non-HC conditions and to traditional human behavior that was adapted to non-HC conditions. (For example, rewrite "Hamlet" so that nobody kills anyone but instead all participants engage in flippant and nonchalant dialogue about the diversity of culinary traditions and sexual behavior in Holland as opposed to the Middle East, while Hamlet is a transgender lesbian from Marocco who is a vegan activist.)
3. Introduce universal unconditional income, health care, housing, and state-sponsored digital entertainment targeted to HC-3 people. The entertainment should emphasize that good things in life are "privileges" rather than results of effort, and that everyone is entitled to "privileges" because of equality. At the same time, this will make the government much more powerful, which is again in accordance to the HC-3 view that "the system" must somehow automatically do all the work needed to maintain HC.
It seems that's where we are all going. This adaptation is useful in the short term because it will make HC-3 people even more comfortable. However, it seems that it will make things even harder when HC finally collapses.
Examples of empirically observable HC conditions are printed warnings that knives or tape-cutters "have sharp edges"; paved and marked roads in natural parks, with signage that warns people about going into "dangerous" areas; fences around all elevated areas on bridges and towers to prevent people from falling; and ubiquitous hygienic toilets with hot water and antiseptic hand sanitizers.
People have different attitudes with respect to hypercomfort (HC). The first HC generation (HC-1) views the achievements of hypercomfort as a veritable paradise. These people endured dire circumstances and hardship (famine, war, etc.) and finally reached unprecedented prosperity and safety. Their worldview is "life is a constant calamity, but we are lucky to be here and to live like this (i.e. in hypercomfort)".
The second generation (HC-2) experienced HC since childhood but are constantly reminded by their first-generation parents that hardship exists and that one must make efforts in life. So, HC-2 people still make significant efforts and view the HC conditions as their earned reward. Their worldview is "life is great here, and we will work hard to keep it that way".
The third generation (HC-3) is not aware of a possibility of any non-HC conditions, either presently or in the past. News about any violation of HC (e.g. hunger in under-developed countries) are perceived as a natural disaster whose consequences somebody needs to eliminate from the world. HC-3 people are also unaware about how HC was achieved in the first place; they perceive HC as a self-evident condition of life that somebody somehow maintains (or that is maintained by itself with no effort from anyone). The typical attitude of HC-3 people is "entitledness", i.e. unwillingness to put out a sustained work effort or to sacrifice short-term convenience for long-term gains, and yet willingness to demand that somebody should fulfill their wishes. Their worldview is "why am I not getting what I want more quickly".
The three generations are not necessarily literally parents of each other, because everyone's personal history is different. People cannot be easily classified by age. Everyone will have a mixture of attitudes typified by these categories of people. I will refer to HC-1, HC-2, and HC-3 in this sense.
I think hypercomfort will lead, in the long term, to disintegration of the social and technological world we live in. The political and economic structure of most of our societies will break down if HC-3 people are in the majority, because not enough people will put out the needed efforts to keep HC going. However, even assuming this is true, the disintegration will take several decades because, at any time, there will be still a lot of people from HC-1 and HC-2 generations that are willing to work for others.
So, the question is - how can people adapt to this condition? Given that HC is not going away any time soon, adaptation will happen; people are not idiots and they will adapt to changing conditions to maximize their perceived well-being. What are the necessary adaptations of the society, and what are the necessary adaptations of people who live in those societies? This is what seems to be the likely adaptations:
1. Permit a massive immigration, giving preference to immigrants from non-HC countries. These immigrants are most likely to provide HC-1 and HC-2 sub-populations willing to work (e.g. clean toilets, fix computers, etc.) to sustain the status quo for a while longer.
2. Keep the HC-3 people happy by protecting them even more from any knowledge of non-HC reality. Prohibit all speech with cultural references to non-HC conditions and to traditional human behavior that was adapted to non-HC conditions. (For example, rewrite "Hamlet" so that nobody kills anyone but instead all participants engage in flippant and nonchalant dialogue about the diversity of culinary traditions and sexual behavior in Holland as opposed to the Middle East, while Hamlet is a transgender lesbian from Marocco who is a vegan activist.)
3. Introduce universal unconditional income, health care, housing, and state-sponsored digital entertainment targeted to HC-3 people. The entertainment should emphasize that good things in life are "privileges" rather than results of effort, and that everyone is entitled to "privileges" because of equality. At the same time, this will make the government much more powerful, which is again in accordance to the HC-3 view that "the system" must somehow automatically do all the work needed to maintain HC.
It seems that's where we are all going. This adaptation is useful in the short term because it will make HC-3 people even more comfortable. However, it seems that it will make things even harder when HC finally collapses.