I kinda went on a little research spree on economics this afternoon but at one point I figured it’s probably good to know if it’s possible for, say, at least 98% of people on earth to live a happy fulfilled life at all.
I know there’s plenty of people who’d be more than happy to have literally nothing more than a house, food and water, but that still leaves a whole lot of people who want other things in life.
Do we have any metrics or data on wether the earth can sustain roughly 8 billion humans?
At the risk of sounding like a conservative, most people do find meaning in doing work and would not be content to lay around eating and watching TikTok forever. Just because someone does not find meaning in laboring to make their bosses wealthy does not mean they don’t find meaning in the work itself.
For example I think a lot of “low level” jobs would be quite enjoyable and rewarding if we weren’t forced to do them in order to survive. I’m thinking things like carpentry, running a small grocery store or even waiting tables.
So to answer your question, yes, the Earth can provide far more than every person needs to live a fulfilling life because all we need is food, shelter, community and freedom to find how we can best contribute. Those things are not expensive or resource intensive. But they are kept from us and replaced with plastic things we don’t need in order to further enrich a small few.