L5

My vision of a large Island Three style habitat is a place accommodating
a few million people and being a place where people will want to live.
If I was a gambling man I would bet that Earth of the future will be a
more crowded, contentious, polluted place with a demand for resources
(particularly energy) outstripping supply.

Perhaps the initial economic raison d'etre of the habitat will be
building SPS and other habitats, but much of this activity will be, as
all industrial activity will likely be at some future date, automated.
What are people (besides the few that are actually involved in habitat
and SPS development) to do? They will participate in a terrestial
economy that will be largely an information and services economy.

The habitat, being a desireable place to live, will attract the richest
and the smartest. Perhaps habitat managers or venture capitalist will
recruit the brightest to this "new world" to join think tanks and
cutting edge development labs. The habitat may offer the very best full
immersion virtual reality sites, or specialized AI software.