Joan Westenberg captures a lot of what has been on my mind over the past couple of years in this wonderful piece, The Future is More Stuff:
This, right here, is why labor-saving devices haven't saved labor, why communication technologies haven't created more connection, why abundance hasn't given us a 4 day work week. The gains get captured by the same system that produces the stuff, channeled back into making more stuff rather than improving our mutual - our shared - well-being.