As you say there is risk of dramatic negative impact with people losing a sense of purpose and drive. If I were an author I could think of a number of scenario

As you say there is risk of dramatic negative impact with people losing a sense of purpose and drive. If I were an author I could think of a number of scenarios that would result; Religious fanaticism, drug dependence and general apathy. hmm sounds like what we have today. As for a lot of things, education can be an answer. Show people that the way things have always been done is not the only way to do it and you can open a world of possibilities. You also have to scaffold this with actual real opportunity before some will be able to lift themselves. I dream of the day when the question"What did you do today?" will typically lead to something other than, commute, boring work, commute, sleep.