Have you ever read "Brave New World?" Happiness and all the sundry delusions you mentioned are not good metrics. The fact of the matter is that most people have

Have you ever read "Brave New World?" Happiness and all the sundry delusions you mentioned are not good metrics. The fact of the matter is that most people have less control over their lives than ever before. Gigantic entities have seized control over most sectors of human activity. In the short term, this corporate domination appears like a good thing. The mom and pop stores fell to Amazon and the Walmarts of the world, and consequently things got cheaper. That's a good thing...right? Cheaper goods = better lives...no? The low cost of goods and immediate boon to our material quality of life came at a structural cost. More and more of us are being converted from independent businesses owners to employees or contractors of large corporations. Nowhere is this more evident than in the agricultural industry. "If you don't go big, you go out," a former AG secretary said of the monopolizing currents in that industry. Prices for food went down as corporations seized more and more territory from independent farmers, but again...this came at a structural cost. In time, corporate monopolies will own all of food production. All this translates to power and wealth being concentrated into the hands of the very few. This means the dream of democracy is over. The average person will not have a say in his government when he is just a cog in a machine owned by the corporate caste. Sure, the corporate caste will probably usher in a BNW type of society, and most people will be as happy as can be...but they won't really be full human beings. They will be satisfied slaves who love their servitude. Unfortunately, this is what the common man wants...he just wants to be happy and have a full belly. He doesn't care about having the power to shape his own destiny, nor does he believe in anything higher than himself that would warrant self-sacrifice and prolonged misery. And so we may have the society you desire--the society of the last man. Almost everyone will be happy, but some men will remain wandering and crying out in the wilderness. Edit: I'd also like to add an example from history which demonstrates the misuse of statistics. Consider the period when Hitler rose to power in Germany. The Nazi regime ushered in what is called the "Economic Miracle." If you looked at the raw statistics of Germany during that period, you would think Hitler was God's gift from heaven. Not only was the economy booming, but many people bought into Hitler's magical rhetoric and became fervently hopeful for their future. It was a period of tremendous optimism and strength. The statistics show this, but they don't show the monsters lurking in the depths beneath. In order to know the monsters of today, we need to look beyond statistics. We need to look into ourselves, into human nature, and think about what happens when so few control so much.