Thread by @ClaireBerlinski

Chapter 14: Video Games and the (Male) Meaning of Life

Here we learn that guys really like video games.

Here's a shocking twist: On p. 144, he blames male youth unemployment on video games. I thought it was automation?

"Games have gotten so good that they have made dropping out of work a more appealing option."

How do these young men get by? They live with their parents. More men age 18-34 now live with their parents than with their romantic partners.

"The image of legions of men in their parents' basements playing video games for hours on end may seem pathetic or sad. But their satisfaction is high." These young men are, apparently, very happy.

I'm dying to know why giving them a Freedom Dividend is a good idea.

The problems come later, when they're in their 30s and 40s are they realize they're losers.

Games are about to get a whole lot better, he notes, with the introduction of cheap virtual reality headsets.

"Before long, video games, virtual reality, and pornography will merge into new forms of immersive experiences that will be more and more compelling."

Why would a 21-year-old college dropout, he asks, not prefer this to a dead-end job, especially when these jobs are going to disappear?

"Male dysfunction tends to take on an air of nihilism and dropping out."

American men, he concludes, will default to the basement.

(Still no argument for UBI. A powerful implicit counter-argument, though.)