Robin Hanson

Robin Hanson, economist and futurist, explores what happens when brain emulations—digital copies of human minds—become economically viable. Drawing on standard economic theory, he predicts that “ems” would live in vast virtual cities, work at subsistence wages due to easy copying, and experience time at speeds up to a thousand times faster than humans. Hanson argues this scenario could trigger the next major economic transition, with the economy potentially doubling every month. He examines how ems would form “clans” of copies, adopt farmer-era religious attitudes, and create a class hierarchy based on processing speed—while retired humans live off rapidly growing capital investments.