> If anything, modern manufacturing uses far less than it did decades ago, with less pollution, people renting things more than wasteful owning,

I don't think we live in the same world then, we've never imported/exported so much shit, third world countries are catching up with the west in term of how they want to live (personal cars, bigger houses, more electronics), we're polluting more than ever, &c. all the metrics are going up, not down

> Life is what you make of it.

Well, yeah, exactly, but what can you make of it when you work 8 hours a day 5 days a week for the 40 best years of your life

> You can focus on yourself and you don't need to judge others

Or I can think about myself _and_ others by thinking that the world would be a much better place for everyone including myself if people didn't have to work so much for so little.