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What place will the Objectivist philosophy hold in a future where man has become so advanced that he fears neither death or pain?
I don't think that day will ever come, at some level, death will always still be possible, no matter how advanced humans and technology will become. And ultimately a 'person' will always have to continue to *want* to live; some nihilists and the like may find value in death. There have been other threads here on this theme here.
http://rebirthofreason.com/Forum/ArticleDiscussions/1303_1.shtml#22
http://rebirthofreason.com/cgi-bin/SHQ/SHQ_FirstUnread.cgi?Function=FirstUnread&Board=2&Thread=1166
http://rebirthofreason.com/Forum/Quotes/0859.shtml#0
Furthermore, the avoidance of death is not the purpose of life (as Rand writes, avoiding death is not living) that is, the mere mechanistic process of life is not our ultimate value (as that means we may give up other things we value, the life of loved ones for instance, to ensure the mechanical perpetuation of our existence) It is a particular *kind* of life, a good Aristotlean Eudaimonic life that we ought to pursue. The vast majority of the things I enjoy are not literally directly connected to 'avoiding' death, but are directed toward living what I consider a good life. Removing the threat of death, or diminishing it to a nearly insignificant level, would leave us free to pursue the things that make life worth living, and not just make us able to live.
There was a good discussion on this at OL
http://www.objectivistliving.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3586&hl=
What place will Objectivism hold in a future where machines are able to create anything we desire?
It would be easier to acquire the things we value, but conversely this will make material things that are valued *becasue* they are scarce less valuable, and would (I think) encourage persons to base their valuation of things on much more objective standards.
What place will Objectivism hold in a future where we can create, either physically or synthetically, a world of our own?
Objectivism will always encourage us to value reality of non-reality. We would at some point always want to leave 'virtual' worlds and interact with real people in the real world (even if only digitally) because we will place some value on reality itself, and being part of it.
What place will Objectivism hold in a future where work is not required, where each man is able to have whatever he wants whenever he wants it?
People will still need to work to pursue goals, and will still need to think to figure things out, even if materially achieving the particular arrangement of atoms that makes up dodge viper or Warp Core is much easier and cheaper, coming up with the idea in the first place will still require goals, work, and effort.
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