> The level of stress, and the toll it takes on mental health that we experience today is very low compared to a time when productivity and income were 20x low

> The level of stress, and the toll it takes on mental health that we experience today is very low compared to a time when productivity and income were 20x lower. How could you possibly know this. Stress is completely subjective, and so is its effect on mental health. Lots of animals in the wild have a much more supposedly stressful life but curl up and die in captivity where everything is provided for. I would say the experience that we have with work is similar subjectively regardless of modern convenience. Especially workers working in Amazon warehouses on their feet 10-11 hours a day and at times with no air conditioning.