I was surprised how this connected to _Permutation City_ with the idea of uploading a simulation of yourself. I thought uploading had a weird fit in the plot - I guess it is the final abundance. But such a big one that it kind of swamps everything else. I thought this was pretty didactic with the arguments presented as conversations. But I did think the arguments were interesting. I really liked the point that selfishness is often rationalized with - not that the it is a good thing to do (not beyond a surface level) - but that anyone in a privileged position would rationalize it. I also liked the experiments playing out meritocracy and free contribution choice - that there will be a social component - almost a shaming - that will encourage people to work, but it makes a difference what you set up as the goal or ideal. That it's worth reflecting and keeping some of those pride and shame impulses in check. I _also_ liked the argument for walking away as form of protest - creating a new space - and if others come and take it over then creating a new space again. I'm of course thinking about the abundance portrayed in terms of the current crop of AI capabilities. The thing missing compared to the books seems to me to be the 'fabs', that can make clothing and mechanical things (not just 3D printed plastic). There's also a lot of recycling and filtering that I'm not sure we're close too, but there are people working on pieces of it. Being able to have the safety equipment is part of what allows them to take over old, unused sites. I'm not sure that quite works that way now - even if you have good safety equipment one slip-up could have pretty nasty consequences (or just prolonged low-level exposure). I think that makes that type of "taking over a polluted site" tougher. But maybe AI can accelerate the advances in those processes. Happy to read a non-dystopian future.