I like your description. I sometimes wonder if the final equilibrium state will be most people working on addictive products and the rest working on addiction treatment.
I'd say with the current state of things it's more like two singularities in which either:
- A landian-stephensian accelerationist timeline occurs where the majority of the urban population becomes some flavor of AGI-tuned VR junkie
- An extreme naturalistic counterculture movement occurs that causes majority of the civilized world to willingly roll themselves back 1 or 2 centuries technologically in order to feel something again
Perhaps the current obsession will just go the way of heavy drinking or smoking? Ie the population will eventually develop some partial immunity to the allure, but it won't even go away completely.
I personally believe that at some point, many people will realize that the majority of the people with economic means are the people who are able to concentrate and don’t waste all their time. Note that I don’t mean the super wealthy, I’m referring to people who are solidly middle class and have means. I know a lot of successful people who aren’t glued to their phones. I think there will be enough good and bad examples out there for people to start catching on.
- And there has to be the third, hyperminmaxers yearning forever more control and power trying to be(at) the machine. Thus becoming a reflection of the first.
- Fourth must be some sort of hybrid between denialist and creationist, whom I don't even want to envision through. Which would be a reflection of the second, but instead of withdrawing, they would bubble themselves into something terrifying version of the Amish.
