What we are observing is the effects of profit maximization when the core value to the user is already fulfilled. It's a type of pathological optimization that

What we are observing is the effects of profit maximization when the core value to the user is already fulfilled. It's a type of pathological optimization that is useful at the beginning but eventually pathologizes. When we already have efficient food production that drove down costs and increased profits (a good thing), what else is there for companies to optimize for, if not loading it with sugar, putting it in cheap plastic, bamboozling us with ads? This same dynamic plays out in every industry. Markets are a great thing when the low hanging fruit hasn't been picked, because the low hanging fruit is usually "cut the waste, develop basic tech, be efficient". But eventually the low hanging fruit becomes "game human's primitive reward circuits".