How much labor is self imposed hardship?

If you do the small scale thought experiment of 100 people trying to survive on an island, food, fuel, and shelter become a clear priority.  You would more or less want to max these things out until you were pretty certain you had that taken care of.

Beyond that, you would start to think about how to make improvements to your life.

What you would probably not do is tell half the group to actively interfere with the other half of the group, invent conflict, or encourage people to destroy, and rebuild what they have already done.

But that is actually a lot of the modern workforce, particularly within the realm of information technology.  Almost every tech company, and software vendor is guilty of designed obsolescence, constant change, and security theater.  The three crimes feed each other, and take a toll on society far greater than dollars alone.  

They rob us of our time, and distract us from living life to its fullest, and moving forward rather than paying a tax to stay in place.

Fuck these criminals.