It's hard to compare now to the past because there are so few similarities between the post-war era and today. The world was a different place in time when 20 m

It's hard to compare now to the past because there are so few similarities between the post-war era and today. The world was a different place in time when 20 million people had died and the whole of Western civilization was in shambles outside of the United States. Work had a different meaning, a different tone. That will (hopefully) never happen again. While it looks good through media in hindsight, keep in mind that the "glory days" didn't apply to the 400,000 dead Americans. A lot of the policies, morals, and ways of thinking about work are vestigial elements in our society from a time that no longer exists. The way we work, what we do, what we consider "productive", how we distribute wealth… none of these things really make sense when you sit down and think about it. But we are so wrapped up in the past that we continue to sell that dream and use "capitalism", "freedom", and the "market economy" to justify policy, morality, and ethics. We are entering an era of technological progress and innovation with a mindset from a time before the transistor existed. There will be a point in time when we will have to move away from what we think of today as free market capitalism. There will be a point in time where we have to rethink our ideas around individuality and what it means to be "self made". We are already butting up against this transition period, and it's being met with firm resistance. It will be painful and I don't see it happening in my lifetime, but it will happen. And we can't look backward to the way things were unless we want the world to go back to the state it was when those things were true. If we ever want to live in a Star Trek universe we will have to completely reprioritize… everything. We will have to refocus and science and education and realize that 9/10 current jobs are completely unnecessary. America has a real hatred for "freeloaders." We are raised to believe we are special and unique and possible of doing great things on our own. Raised to believe that if we are smart and work hard and make it, that we earned it. That we deserve to live a better life than others. It's mostly bullshit. When you think about it it's obvious. But we don't think about it, we just do, because the alternative makes us uneasy. I have only ever met a handful of extraordinary individuals in my lifetime. They are few and far between. Most people, including myself, add very little value to society. The amount I get paid relative to what I actually do is so wildly out of whack it's hard to stomach sometimes when I wake up and look at myself in the mirror. I do not deserve the life I live. Then again, neither does anyone around me. But we all pretend we do, and we move forward. Some (most?) probably never stop to think about it and believe they deserve it. TL;DR The economic, political, moral and ethical models that emerged in the post-war era no longer apply. We should recognize this and start to rethink them, as they were really only designed for that point in time. The past is, hopefully, irrelevant.