Sadly noone answered your question, but luckily I'm here a week later thanks to Kale's hacker newsletter. No, I don't think the hedonistic treadmill is what pu

Sadly noone answered your question, but luckily I'm here a week later thanks to Kale's hacker newsletter. No, I don't think the hedonistic treadmill is what pushes us forward, I think "necessity is the mother of invention." And it goes both ways in my opinion; to use your example, a person in prison will adapt and find it's not so bad, but then a lot of prisoners resourcefully create contraband to fulfill their needs, which "pushes them forward." Likewise a rich person may "need" a faster yacht, so they fund technology to invent one, thereby "pushing us forward."