ERIC KIM

What Will People in the Future Want?

People of the future will desire what we already desire today:

Whoa.

Generally speaking, it is hard to get a good meal in virtual reality (Ryan Haliday, from the film 'Ready Player One')
People of the future will still want steak.

We are in the year 2020 (we are already in the future).

But my thought:

What will people in the future want?

Some thoughts:

The future ain’t gonna be THAT different.

Selfie

I’m optimistic about the future, but also pessimistic in the sense that I feel that future humans won’t be too different from us now. What will future humans desire? My thoughts:

  1. We will continue to desire to differentiate ourselves from others (we desire to be on top of the social hierarchy).
  2. We will need philosophy (we will need more personal meaning, direction, and purpose in the future)
  3. We desire hyper-health: We aren’t happy with just being “healthy”, we want to become MORE HEALTHY. More and more people will spend more and more money on these ‘healthy foods’ in striving to become hyper-maximally optimal.
  4. We desire personal beautiful aesthetics: We desire to look at ourselves in the mirror (naked), and feel great about our body. For men, the desire for more muscle mass, and lower bodyfat percentage. Same goes with women.
  5. We will desire to have children to continue our legacy, and continue to augment our family’s clan and legacy.
  6. We will still be hungry for art: Art in music, art in the visual arts, art in clothing/fashion/objects.
  7. We will desire totems of power, success, and prestige: We will still desire fancy cars, fancy clothes, fancy objects, fancy watches, fancy devices, etc.

Notions of the future are a reflection of the present.

This is something that people don’t get about science-fiction:

Science fiction ain’t about the future, it is about present-day humanity.

For example, THE MATRIX as one of my favorite films of all-time. It ain’t about the dystopia-future, it is about the dystopia-present moment!

What I like about future films or media:

I watch these movies and think to myself: “Man, these future people are crazy.” But then I take a pause, and realize — whoa, this is actually already quite real in present-day reality.

Conclusion:

What will people in the future want? Simple — what they already desire today.

ERIC