[eru]

In the long run, the average member of society can consume exactly as much as the average member of society produces.

Productivity is what got us out of poverty of the pre-industrial-revolution era. And productivity is still key in the long run.

[andrewjl]

Averages can conceal just as much as they reveal. What does a society look like with those same averages but where the distribution of production is governed by power laws and the distribution of consumption isn't?

[eru]

In the end, for people's welfare it matters what they can consume over their lifetimes.

So flat distribution of consumption seem like an egalitarian utopia?

[andrewjl]

A flat distribution doesn't comport well with heterogenous consumption preferences. The latter is a trend that will likely intensify in the coming decade.

The challenge with discussing welfare is that different people have radically differing definitions of what it entails. A solution that's worked ok so far is to seek a minimal band of commonality. In the future, given current trends, it might be difficult to maintain even that and it will likely "snap" into several fragments. The strains leading to this "snapping" are the root causes of most headline political dynamics worldwide.

[eru]

I was suggesting a flat distribution in terms of the monetary value of consumption. Not what specifics people consume, which varies a lot with preference, yes.

Of course, some people like to 'consume' leisure instead of working to earn money to finance other consumption. That's a perfectly valid preference, just a bit harder to measure and model.