> Once it became trivially easy to obtain food, water, and shelter
I would argue that the average human being doesn't consider these things easy to acquire. For society it COULD be easy to distribute these things if we decided that was a goal of ours, but we haven't gotten there yet.
I would be very interested in seeing the ideas (or problems?) invented by children born into a world where this was true, but unless things get very interesting very quickly, I doubt we'll get the chance.
It's also inconsequential for everyone who has a data cap on their phone plan. Running out of data 20% sooner isn't a win for people who can't afford a luxury plan.
I use it for as few things as possible and it does them very well. I only want notifications for things that may be immediately relevant (phone call, text msg, calendar event reminders) so when I walk away from my phone I'm not worried about missing something important. It works with Smart Lock on Android so my phone stays unlocked when I'm close and locked when I'm not. Vibrating alarm clock that won't wake the whole house, sleep & exercise tracker without needing to carry my phone. I don't actually "use" it very often, but it is a very passive yet essential part of my routine and keeping myself on track. I am very forgetful and used to have entire weekends pass by where I forget to check my phone unless something reminds me to and the Pebble helps make sure I get only the essential information when I need it without unnecessary interruption. It also shows time and weather at a glance ;)
If your debit cards info gets stolen, they take YOUR money and the bank may not necessarily be in as much of a hurry to get it bank. In the mean time, you have no cash, maybe for days or weeks.
If your credit card info gets stolen, the thief had access to credit card company money, not yours, and you still have access to all your cash as long as you personally can refuse to pay for fradulent charges. It is the banking institutions money they have stolen access to, and the CC company has incentive to shut down the fraud ASAP.
It's not about the morality of supporting credit card companies or controlling spending impulses, it's about whose money the thieves have access to and wither or not you have the ability to pay rent 2 days after your card gets stolen.
I would argue that the average human being doesn't consider these things easy to acquire. For society it COULD be easy to distribute these things if we decided that was a goal of ours, but we haven't gotten there yet. I would be very interested in seeing the ideas (or problems?) invented by children born into a world where this was true, but unless things get very interesting very quickly, I doubt we'll get the chance.