[zettatron]

I'm very glad you have raised this point. This concept of productivity is quite new. Unfortunately, it has not remained flexible enough to offer the same kind of meaning today, that it did for workers at it's inception.

Fortunately, many engineers, among others in technology-centric roles, have co-opted this definition to mean their intellectual output.

Depending on whether or not an individual's intellectual currency is manifested via productive output, this hyper-productivity needn't be unhealthy in itself.

It is when this desire overtakes those who don't derive value from the "hobby" of productivity that it becomes dangerous.