That last paragraph sounds like a reprise of Victorian England as chronicled by Dickens. I don't think we're there yet. Surely we can do better.

The old quote "an improved means to an unimproved end" comes to mind. We have vastly improved means; what is the improved end that people should aspire to? Surely not buying larger and larger amounts of second-rate stuff; that model has a shelf life, and I expect that I'll live to see the start of the shift away from it, whether due to a more chaotic economic system or climate whackiness of some sort (i.e., changes in precipitation, which changes everything).

I begin to wonder if the less self-centred, more communal style of some people like the Hutterites, Mennonites and Amish might actually be the prototype, the leading edge of the change that must happen (whether we like it or not).