I remember watching an old episode of the Twilight zone called 'A nice place to visit'; you can watch an abridged version here or the complete version here.
The episode revolves around the death of a criminal who finds himself seemingly in heaven with all his wishes fulfilled. A lavish home, beautiful women, and guaranteed success at the casinos leading to all the wealth he desired. He suspects someone made a mistake but he is too shrewd to complain.
After a while however, the lack of challenge gets to him. He finally cannot stand it any more and tells his guardian angel that he does not belong here in heaven, and that he would like to go to 'the other place'.
"Heaven? You think you are in heaven?" says the guardian angel with a diabolical laugh, "This IS the other place."
The greatest curse one could inflict on a person would be to grant his every desire without giving him the benefit of working for it. There would be no joy of achievement. no meaning to life. No fulfillment in work. No work. period.
Isacc Asimov was prescient with his predictions of the future in 1964. He said that humanity's biggest challenge would not be the shortage of leisure but the shortage of meaningful work. In his own words, "The lucky few who can be involved in creative work of any sort will be the true elite of mankind... Indeed, the most somber speculation I can make about A.D. 2014 is that ina society of leisure, the most glorious word in the vocabulary will have become work."
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