If we all lived in huts, subsisted on rice and beans, and travelled by bicycle, humanity wouldn't be threatening the stability of the biosphere; but of course, we're wired to crave richer experiences, we hoard, and we seek to acquire status which is demonstrated by how much excess cargo we have to waste.

The more aspects of the human experience we can ephemeralize, the less we need to go out and muck up the physical world to get what we want.

A just released Pew research study has shown that 1 in 5 are online almost constantly. Which is to say, their experience of the world is already largely virtual, and the role that their physical presence plays is, by extension, diminished.