Also we design out societies incrementally all the time, in all sorts of ways. Introducing new legislation and repealing old ones being one small example. Also some societies work markedly better than others and theres huge amounts of data to support that. As a very crude indication you could compare countries quality of life vs GDP. Countries with a higher quality of life / GDP are using their resources more efficiently to improve their citizena quality of life.
In a well-designed society my wife and I can't voluntarily decide to save up and have a really nice dinner for our anniversary? What kind of person is this designer?
Yeah, that occured to me. My thoughts arent terribly clear on this, but where i am is.. Stuff like, this restarant, bugatti veyrons, luxury yachts etc. shouldnt exist. Producing them is massivley wasteful of resources and they require huge inequality to be viable.
Im sure theres a sustainable, fair, socially responsible way to celebrate your anniversary with a nice dinner, but not whats described in the article, that is insane overkill.
A $215 meal at a restaurant is a far cry from a Bugatti. I'm a software dev in the Midwest and I've eaten at Alinea, which is comparable in price and quality. You don't have to be a banker or hedge funder manager to enjoy good food, and I'm not sure what is so socially irresponsible about running a nice restaurant.