I find it interesting that innumerable people just like the ones quoted in this article were able to lead rich lives and find happiness, despite the absence of these material things.

Take the first quote. If only we had music on demand, "the limit of human felicity" could be attained. Yet -- we now have music on demand and clearly it did not cause everyone permanent happiness.

What I take from this is that material things actually matter very little to the attainment of meaning. Meaning comes from elsewhere.

I have running water, it's true, but I'm still bothered by the AI slop art in this article. Funny thing, that.