Material plenty and successful institutional reforms can leave people spiritually or psychologically unfulfilled; historical cases (John Stuart Mill) and contemporary anxieties about technology and prosperity show that policy success doesn't guarantee purpose. The argument calls for attention to non-material goods—ritual, narrative, belonging—in public policy and cultural debate.
— If true, policy and tech debates that focus mainly on increasing material abundance will miss core drivers of social cohesion and mental health, shifting where governments and institutions should invest.
Shai Tubali
2026.03.27
82% relevant
The article argues that technological convenience and the attention economy are eroding forms of inner life that produce meaning and moral resources; that argument maps directly onto the existing idea that material and technical abundance fails to supply meaning, reframing abundance as a cultural problem rather than a purely economic one (actor: tech platforms and attention markets).
Christopher Beha
2026.03.05
100% relevant
Christopher Beha’s essay invoking John Stuart Mill’s existential collapse when imagining all reforms achieved illustrates that achieving 'abundance' of goods and institutions can still leave a deficit of meaning.
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