Let me try to address your points in general since I assume the question is whether productivity is worth 'pedestalizing'? Even if you forget about the impact

Let me try to address your points in general since I assume the question is whether productivity is worth 'pedestalizing'? Even if you forget about the impact to company / society / civilization and focus simply on yourself, you can see that you get X hours in total and one shot at life. If you pare it down by necessary but not directly productive hours like downtime / time spent towards learning / physical-mental well being etc. You get Y which is very much lesser than X. Some folks want to maximize the heck out of this Y just because they have so many things they want to get done OR they have chosen to listen to someone / company that tells them that they should get all of those done. Usually maximization like that in comparison to a lifestyle that maximizes consumption is always 'pedestalized' because of a few reasons: - historically they have moved the bottom line on many real world scenarios. - someone else values it enough that they pay actual money for it (I am yet to find a viable lifestyle option that will pay me money :). I personally value money because it buys me time (via ability to delegate) and experiences with the limited time I have. - When you have a ton of things you want to get done (irrespective of socio-economic impact) and little time, there is no other choice. I agree it might be 'marginal behavior' which is what makes it so sought after. There are folks who can't get there, folks who don't want to get there, folks who will try but won't get there and a ton of mortals who will get somewhere close. In general, humans want to make a difference in some way, we see the Elon's of the world somehow making a difference and folks chase after it (hence pedestalizing). IOW your question will make more sense if we are immortal :)