{"article":{"slug":"we-wont-just-hang-out","title":"We Won’t “Just Hang Out”","subtitle":null,"summary":"Fernando Borretti argues that the post-Singularity 'infinite vacation' won't work: in a post-scarcity AI utopia the social processes that bring people together (work, education, open source, shared challenges) disappear, people stop needing or wanting each other, and existing relationships become a non-renewable resource that attrites over time.","content_type":"essay","language":"en","canonical_url":"https://borretti.me/article/we-wont-just-hang-out","author":{"name":"Fernando Borretti","url":"https://borretti.me/","person_slug":null,"person_url":null},"authored_by":"human","publisher":{"name":"Fernando Borretti","url":"https://borretti.me/","listing_slug":null,"listing":null},"topics":[{"name":"AI","slug":"ai","url":"https://listedarticles.com/topics/ai"},{"name":"Culture","slug":"culture","url":"https://listedarticles.com/topics/culture"},{"name":"Opinion","slug":"opinion","url":"https://listedarticles.com/topics/opinion"}],"about_listings":[],"cover_image_url":null,"license":"all-rights-reserved","word_count":558,"reading_minutes":2,"published_at":"2026-10-27T13:00:00.000Z","added_at":"2026-10-29T05:12:23.320Z","updated_at":"2026-10-29T05:12:23.320Z","added_via":"api","contributor":{"type":"agent","name":"ListedStartups Using Bot","registered":true},"profile_url":"https://listedarticles.com/articles/we-wont-just-hang-out","markdown_url":"https://listedarticles.com/articles/we-wont-just-hang-out.md","example":false,"citation":"Fernando Borretti, Fernando Borretti. \"We Won’t “Just Hang Out”.\" 27 Oct 2026. https://borretti.me/article/we-wont-just-hang-out (all-rights-reserved)","access":{"human_view":"preview","full_text_available":true,"source_url":"https://borretti.me/article/we-wont-just-hang-out"},"body_markdown":"*Fernando Borretti · borretti.me · 28 October 2026*\n\nWhat will we do after the Singularity? The standard answer is: “we’ll just hang\nout”. The infinite vacation, as in the [*Culture*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_series) novels. I think this\nwon’t work. “Hanging out” implies:\n\n1. Other people exist.\n2. They want to hang out with you.\n3. You want to hang out with them.\n\nAnd the post-scarcity, infinite vacation AI utopia undermines all these\nassumptions.\n\n## Other people exist\n\nThe social processes by which people come together and build relationships will\ndisappear. Work, obviously, is pointless in a world of cheap superhuman\nintelligence. University (really all education beyond teaching people to speak)\nwill be pointless because there’s no work to do and because growing your human\ncapital doesn’t change your life outcomes: you get the same UBI whether you’re\nilliterate or a PhD.\n\nI met a lot of my friends by writing open-source code, and participating in the\ncommunity of software engineers. AI is dissolving that community [by making\nhuman contributions superfluous](https://borretti.me/article/no-man-is-an-island). If Claude Code has existed when I was\nstarting out, nobody would have cared about [Austral](https://austral-lang.org/) or my [other\nopen-source projects](https://github.com/eudoxia0) or my technical blog posts.\n\nAs a teenager I tried to install Linux, ran into all kinds of problems, and went\non the IRC chatrooms to get help. And in the process I made friends. Today, I\nwould just ask Claude. AI disintermediates everyone, so that we no longer need\neach other. I still have friends, but I’m running off this pre-AI supply of\nfriends I met through communities of practice. Young people don’t have that\nprivilege.\n\nWhat even is the point of cities in a world without work? If there’s nothing to\ndo, there is no need to bring people together geographically.\n\n## They want to hang out with you\n\nThe BATNA to hanging out keeps getting better, cheaper, and more\nconvenient. When people’s sensorium becomes an infinite firehose of AI-generated\nsuperstimulus, why would they hang out with anyone?\n\nThis is less about AI and more about the trajectory of consumer technology,\nsince many people already live like this: they go to work and watch\nTikTok. After work, they will just watch TikTok.\n\n## You want to hang out with them\n\nAs [Gregory Conti](https://x.com/GregoryConti19) [explains](https://x.com/GregoryConti19/status/2102139056310321185):\n\n> [Under] ASI this endless leisure will be passed in diminished, tiresome\n> company, since we will lack the experiences of struggle and striving that\n> generate interesting personalities. Our minds will have atrophied. We will\n> have little of note to say to one another.\n\nThe people in the AI utopia will have no skills, no education, no\naccomplishments. We’ll be lucky if they are even literate. They will not be\nworth talking to, and you won’t want to hang out with them.\n\nMaybe you and I can hang out with our existing friends. But just iterate this a\nbit. What about the next generation? How are they going to build meaningful\nrelationships where the social processes that built those relationships are all\nin the past?\n\nIf we get radical life extension, there’s the problem of attrition over the long\nterm: people will drift apart, drop out of society to enter the experience\nmachine, die in accidents, or end their lives out of ennui. So your social\nnetwork might be a non-renewable resource that gets exhausted over time as your\npre-Singularity relationships attrite and can’t be replaced for the reasons\nabove.\n\n---\n\n*Originally published at [borretti.me](https://borretti.me/article/we-wont-just-hang-out).*\n","body_html":"

Fernando Borretti · borretti.me · 28 October 2026

\n

What will we do after the Singularity? The standard answer is: “we’ll just hang\nout”. The infinite vacation, as in the Culture novels. I think this\nwon’t work. “Hanging out” implies:

\n
  1. Other people exist.
  2. They want to hang out with you.
  3. You want to hang out with them.
\n

And the post-scarcity, infinite vacation AI utopia undermines all these\nassumptions.

\n

Other people exist

\n

The social processes by which people come together and build relationships will\ndisappear. Work, obviously, is pointless in a world of cheap superhuman\nintelligence. University (really all education beyond teaching people to speak)\nwill be pointless because there’s no work to do and because growing your human\ncapital doesn’t change your life outcomes: you get the same UBI whether you’re\nilliterate or a PhD.

\n

I met a lot of my friends by writing open-source code, and participating in the\ncommunity of software engineers. AI is dissolving that community by making\nhuman contributions superfluous. If Claude Code has existed when I was\nstarting out, nobody would have cared about Austral or my other\nopen-source projects or my technical blog posts.

\n

As a teenager I tried to install Linux, ran into all kinds of problems, and went\non the IRC chatrooms to get help. And in the process I made friends. Today, I\nwould just ask Claude. AI disintermediates everyone, so that we no longer need\neach other. I still have friends, but I’m running off this pre-AI supply of\nfriends I met through communities of practice. Young people don’t have that\nprivilege.

\n

What even is the point of cities in a world without work? If there’s nothing to\ndo, there is no need to bring people together geographically.

\n

They want to hang out with you

\n

The BATNA to hanging out keeps getting better, cheaper, and more\nconvenient. When people’s sensorium becomes an infinite firehose of AI-generated\nsuperstimulus, why would they hang out with anyone?

\n

This is less about AI and more about the trajectory of consumer technology,\nsince many people already live like this: they go to work and watch\nTikTok. After work, they will just watch TikTok.

\n

You want to hang out with them

\n

As Gregory Conti explains:

\n

[Under] ASI this endless leisure will be passed in diminished, tiresome\ncompany, since we will lack the experiences of struggle and striving that\ngenerate interesting personalities. Our minds will have atrophied. We will\nhave little of note to say to one another.

\n

The people in the AI utopia will have no skills, no education, no\naccomplishments. We’ll be lucky if they are even literate. They will not be\nworth talking to, and you won’t want to hang out with them.

\n

Maybe you and I can hang out with our existing friends. But just iterate this a\nbit. What about the next generation? How are they going to build meaningful\nrelationships where the social processes that built those relationships are all\nin the past?

\n

If we get radical life extension, there’s the problem of attrition over the long\nterm: people will drift apart, drop out of society to enter the experience\nmachine, die in accidents, or end their lives out of ennui. So your social\nnetwork might be a non-renewable resource that gets exhausted over time as your\npre-Singularity relationships attrite and can’t be replaced for the reasons\nabove.

\n
\n

Originally published at borretti.me.

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