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"Why Should I Care?" is exactly the right question, and I don't think that our society has been able to properly engage with.
At this point the whole system is running on inertia, and what we see in East Asia may be a result of "the default life plan" ceasing to be either desirable or necessary for the majority of the population.
To paraphrase BAP's famous tweet, "Why isn't Final Fantasy XIV better?" is a question that secular culture has not yet been able to answer. Frankly, I would be interested in that answer for my own sake as much as for the sake of others – I've previously posted about my struggles with appreciating the "real life" and the physical world, so spiritually I'm very much in Dylan's camp. I just happen to prefer a bit more comfort and security in life, which is why I'm not picking pineapples just yet.
Until a solution is provided, and despite the shaming from boomers and the "just psyop yourself into an entirely different belief system, bro" camp, people will continue dropping out of society. Because, as things currently stand, the incentives structure is decidedly not in favor of living a real life in a real world, and unless you happen to be a particularly driven individual or grew up outside of the framework of secular hedonism, there's not that much value in the default life plan, with a regular job, wife and 2 kids, and all the struggles those involve, compared to the alternatives.
Are people really dropping out of society, or are you just in a circle where people are dropping out of society? Like one simple metric, the prime-age labor force participation rate, is near all-time highs. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS11300060.
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I've psyopped myself into believing that the general task of continuing human civilization and seeding the galaxy with intelligent life is important (I've taken the Muskpill, if you like). So having and raising kids, avoiding existential risks, and generally trying to push society forward technologically are goals that I find give me a sense of purpose.
And there's something to be excited about there. No matter what it is you like about living on planet earth, EVERYTHING ELSE is out there in space, if you can just find a way to get there. Every human could have their own planet to shape to their preferences, eventually.
But I've also got to recognize that most people don't have an inherent appreciation for space exploration nor any expectation that space exploration will improve their lives.
And as AI and VR tech gets better, the majesty of outer space is going to have to compete with just plugging into the infinite experience machine that will make you feel whatever emotion you want to feel and allow you to have endless new experiences customized to your liking... without ever leaving home!
Me, I like living in (what I perceive to be) baseline reality too much. There's still so much goofy stuff to discover, and we haven't even unlocked the truly interesting stuff on the tech tree.
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