| For the US: With lab-grown meat agriculture has mostly collapsed, since most of it was either meat or food for meat production. Most small cities are essentially dead, at least in terms of opportunities to improve ones life, since there are no jobs for low skilled workers. Those jobs were mostly meat plants or trucking and transport is done with automated trucks. There were other jobs but those where mostly in support of those jobs, or incidental to peoples life. High Skilled workers have moved to the cities, but most of their income is eaten up by rent. Those who got there earlier and got a reasonably affordable place to live are making a lot of money. Both suffer a lot less because things have continued to get cheaper -- you don't need to travel the world with good enough 3d glasses, most things we have physically today are available in "phones" (though nobody knows why they are called that anymore, as nobody use them to make old style phone calls). Without meat production, most oil-based transport and most stuff the environment is doing okay. It helps that not too many babies are being born (turns out, 3d porn is just that much nicer). On an international scene things are looking much better: most of the world has cached up to the standard of living the US had in 1980, with the exception of basket case countries that are essentially still basket cases (North Korea, Eritrea). China has court up with the US and are beginning to face the same problems the US had, though somewhat dampened by the lack of freedom. Despite this, they have had to find make work projects for their people, and have had to grant more and more freedom to stay in power. In short the world will be a lot freer, a lot more equal, but inside countries there will be a lot less hope and those countries will be much less equal. |