Well advertisement is the basis on which many services can be offered... it isn't clear that a small number of PhDs/etc. being employed in (a mostly automated)

Well advertisement is the basis on which many services can be offered... it isn't clear that a small number of PhDs/etc. being employed in (a mostly automated) discipline is therefore "a waste". How many of these wasted lives have, for example, enabled all of the youtube creators to have careers? > who forgo freedom essentially are subjecting themselves to someone else's idea of prosperity, Yes and no. The problem space may be infinite, but human nature isnt; nor is the capacity of any given society to provide prosperity. At some point your parents have to decide what bets to make on how you can reconsile your nature with the potential opportunities on offer (eg., to encourage sports, music, academic study, etc.). And when parenting subsides you likewise have to reflect and make the same sorts of decisions. Each such decision is a foreclosing of freedom in your sense: ie., it throws away much of the problem space. Freedom is the currency of life, it's not there to be amassessed for its own sake. Happiness/prosperity/etc. can only be obtained by spending it.