Our goal, in short, is a humane alternative to genocide. That is: the ideal solution achieves the same result as mass murder (the removal of undesirable elements from society), but without any of the moral stigma. Perfection cannot be achieved on both these counts, but we can get closer than most might think.

The best humane alternative to genocide I can think of is not to liquidate the wards—either metaphorically or literally—but to virtualize them. A virtualized human is in permanent solitary confinement, waxed like a bee larva into a cell which is sealed except for emergencies. This would drive him insane, except that the cell contains an immersive virtual-reality interface which allows him to experience a rich, fulfilling life in a completely imaginary world.

The virtual worlds of today are already exciting enough to distract many away from their real lives. They will only get better. Nor is productive employment precluded in this scenario—for example, wards can perform manual labor through telepresence. As members of society, however, they might as well not exist. And because cells are sealed and need no guards, virtualization should be much cheaper than present-day imprisonment.

I like virtualization because it can be made to scale. I don’t think there is any scenario under which San Francisco is burdened with more than a few thousand wards. Many other regions of the earth, however, contain large numbers of human beings whose existence may well prove an unequivocal liability to the owners of any ground on which they would reside. If so, they can be virtualized, creating giant human Wachowski honeycombs of former bezonians, whose shantytowns can be cleared and redeveloped as villas for retired oil-company executives.

[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 month ago

Yuck, in his wildest dreams.

[–] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Friendo, published by Vault Comics.

Leo didn't have much as a kid. But now he has his best friend, Jerry, who wants Leo to have all his heart's desires, no matter what it takes. Except Jerry isn't real. He's augmented reality marketing software, and he's completely insane.

[–] zygo_histo_morpheus@programming.dev 3 points 1 month ago

Zuckerberg himself is probably constantly surrounded by yes men so maybe it won't seem like that much of a difference to him

[–] Mac@mander.xyz 1 points 1 month ago

People with no connection to humanity cannot fathom what connection feels like and think everyone lives in emptiness.