Quality of life can go down while excess productivity has been captured by corporations and distributed to shareholders.
As productivity went up over the last 40 years, we should've reduced the work week. [1] We didn't. And now we have corporations with trillions of dollars of cash they can't or won't invest [2], and tens of millions of workers who continue to slave away 40 hours a week.
As odbol_'s sibling comment states, most of HN's demographic doesn't see this despair or care.
As productivity went up over the last 40 years, we should've reduced the work week. [1] We didn't. And now we have corporations with trillions of dollars of cash they can't or won't invest [2], and tens of millions of workers who continue to slave away 40 hours a week.
As odbol_'s sibling comment states, most of HN's demographic doesn't see this despair or care.
[1] https://thecurrentmoment.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/product...
[2] http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/magazine/why-are-corporati...
And the disappearing middle class:
http://www.npr.org/2016/07/07/484941939/a-portrait-of-americ...