Given their effect on how we think and live our lives, economic systems are much more than tools. We adapt ourselves to fit to them rather than using them for our own purposes.

I don't see how that is different from a good tool. I purchased a brad-nailer recently and it has changed the way I work with wood. I now look at woodworking problems completely differently. It's like moving from a text editor to an IDE. The developers of today often have different skills than before based on the tools they have at hand.

In this analogy, you look at woodworking problems differently and might take on new projects but you still generally pick the same type of problem to work on with your newfound tool and retain the same system of values towards woodworking.

With economic systems, almost every action and thought-pattern you take in your daily life are reoriented according to the pressures you are subjected to. Even things that seem completely natural like the concept of a "hobby" or "free time" are massively different to previous eras and patterns of thought.