One thing I'm missing here is a much more immediate effect, namely the effects of automation on modern economies. I am personally of the opinion that automation needs to happen, and we must make as much human work as we can optional. A number of people I have talked to about this feel this is morally wrong as it destroys jobs. I think we SHOULD destroy jobs. I believe making people do automatable work just to survive is an insult to humanity. A treatment of this is, in my opinion, much more immediately important than what this book is trying to do.

http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1012/1012.5594.pdf Something that I wrote in high school. Hope you enjoy it :)