Here's the thing

How much do we really need and why do we think we need it? Why are we wired to compare ourselves to everybody else around us? These are interesting questions to me.

I figure we live like kings compared to even the most well-off people from even 100 years ago. I mean there wasn't even electricity then, and thankfully I haven't ridden my horse to work in a while. (The horse is thankful also). How many people even 100 years ago could wake up to a warm shower? By all objective measures the average Joe today lives like a King compared to almost anyone living 100 years ago.

But I wonder if the average Joe perceives himself as any better off?

I wonder if in 100 years people will be orders of magnitude "better off" than we are now, but will they still be slogging away at jobs they don't enjoy, trying to pay mortgages and buy stuff, and just trying to figure out how to get ahead... Will we ever get to the point where we're satisfied, or are we wired against it?