But even after we have thrown away science, art, love, and philosophy, there’s still one thing left to lose. One final sacrifice runaway competitive pressure might demand of us: being anyone at all.
To quote Nick Bostrom:
editWe could imagine, as an extreme case, a technologically highly advanced society, containing many complex structures, some of them far more intricate and intelligent than anything that exists on the planet today – a society which nevertheless lacks any type of being that is conscious or whose welfare has moral significance. In a sense, this would be an uninhabited society. It would be a society of economic miracles and technological awesomeness, with nobody there to benefit. A Disneyland with no children.