Life a hundred years hence, in my opinion, would not be something to be looked forward to. Man, no doubt, would enjoy a great many comforts and facilities. He would live in mega structures, communicate with others on video phone, and work only 30 hours a week. But such physical comforts by themselves do not make for happiness. Happiness is largely psychological and spiritual, and consists in the pursuit of certain ideals and in the expression of one’s personality. The society of the 22nd century would not have any aim higher than that of pleasure. When much of the work, including intellectual work, would be done by computers, one would feel unimportant and have no scope for the expression of one’s personality.
Again, what would man do with the abundant leisure at his disposal? Would he devote it merely to seeing three – dimensional pictures and hearing stereophonic music? What would the housewife do with the plenty of spare time released for her by computers and robots? Things like three – dimensional pictures would become boring in the course of time. The meaningful use of leisure would be a serious problem of the 22nd century society. This pleasure – oriented society might prove, with disastrous consequences, the truth of the proverb that an idle mind is a devil’s workshop.
Besides, what about individual freedom in such a world? A society so highly scientific and automated is likely to be entirely controlled by a few experts. One shudders to think of a state of affairs, in which a few experts shape the life not only of the living but of the unborn.