[ArkyBeagle]

We don't know what will happen. I'm not sure empathy helps, either. As I understand empathy at a distance ( because personalizing it here seems creepy ) , it's sort of a scarce resource. And I don't consider scapegoating as the opposite of empathy. I think it's a related process - as delineated by Rene Girard. It's the dark side of the empathic response. Both are manifestations of the mimetic response.

Arnold Kling is fond of "The Diamond Age", with Thetes and Vickies. Thetes are proles who live on a stipend type thing; Vickies are the ruling elite with extremely tight social strictures. Hopefully somebody more familiar with the book than I can help - I'm repeating Arnold's view of it.

BTW, Arnold Kling also does work in "PSST" - Patterns of Sustainable Specialization and Trade, which is largely athwart this issue.

I do think that "opting out" will become more and more important as society becomes increasingly ephemeral.

[internaut]

I'm increasingly becoming of the view that The Diamond Age was a documentary from the future.

There are worse options!