So this last paragraph to me encapsulates the base fallacy that permeates our society when it comes to analyzing the economy. You exactly assume that there are

So this last paragraph to me encapsulates the base fallacy that permeates our society when it comes to analyzing the economy. You exactly assume that there are fixed desires and needs and that this is merely "directed" or shifted around by culture. You think of it as a base real thing that advertisers try to influence, rather than something created from whole cloth. This assumption does not stand up to scrutiny in my opinion. History shows otherwise. People go to die in holy war to impress, or serve their country. This is not biologically sensible. And yet they did. This is what I mean with decoupling. You can of course claim that this is just a strong version of status seeking being channelled, or you can invent another base desire that you think is biologically sensible and that the wish to die in war is just a cultivated version of. But your "base desires" don't have any explanatory value at that point. They don't survive Occam's Razor. They only serve to satisfy your psychological need that the things you care about are _real_.