> Many desired goods are scarce Maybe because they are produced by inefficient humans?

Not meaningfully, from both directions at the same time. Most of the of goods we consume are produced with large quantities of mechanical labour and have been since the Industrial Revolution got going; conversely, one of the biggest costs we face in the G7 is the land, and the land is mainly expensive because of the other people all bidding against each other to be in good locations.

Visited Nairobi a few years back, and one of my partner’s local friends was complaining about the rent (one year for her in Nairobi was less than one month for me in Cambridge, because it was locals bidding against other locals for rent in both cases), but that friend was still able to get a smart phone (albeit a cheaper model than most people here would be OK with).