Hi - you need to look at this books - even just browse itat Amazon.com. Culture Matters. It's a bit of a collection from a symposium, and there is a bit of diversity in the opinions. BUT - mmost participants are persuaded that there are aspects of Culture which are friendly to "development", and aspects which are decidedly unfriendly. "Development" being economic progress, life expectancy, food and water, etc. For example, a culture that has a primarily fatalistic outlook - someone else is in charge, the deity did it, it's all luck, you need the king's ok, etc. - has a very poor record of any progress in either democracy or economics. Same thing for a culture that sees all goods are limited - in short supply. If you have a lot that means I have few, etc. The developed nations tend to see goods as something we make up, or create! Less developed nations see everytying as a competition for the few goods out there - like gold and diamonds, oil, etc. Just at thought. Thanks for the ideas.

Of course, such a tendency would have to be VERY strong and universal, as holdout species or holdouts within a species (anti-VR mormons get selected for quick) could then pick up the slack and fill the universe. Not to mention that colonization secures more resources to keep the VR computers running longer, or to give citizens whole solar systems' worth of VR-lifetime, or to defend against any alien species that are not wholly couch potatoes.