It could be that in an industrial economy people develop a materialist mind-set and believe that improving their income is the same thing as improving their quality of life. But in an affluent information-driven world, people embrace the postmaterialist mind-set. They realize they can improve their quality of life without actually producing more wealth. ...
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Many of this era’s technological breakthroughs produce enormous happiness gains, but surprisingly little additional economic activity.
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For the past few decades, Americans have devoted more of their energies to postmaterial arenas and less and less, for better and worse, to the sheer production of wealth.
During these years, commencement speakers have urged students to seek meaning and not money. Many people, it turns out, were listening.
[Full Article : http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/opinion/15brooks.html?src=me&ref=homepage]
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