We take these things for granted and don't consider them "making us richer" because they are widely accessible, and people have a tendency to consider themselves rich only when they are richer then their neighbors.
We take these things for granted and don't consider them "making us richer" because they are widely accessible, and people have a tendency to consider themselves rich only when they are richer then their neighbors.
In that same vein, how can you calculate the cost of healthcare for technologies that did not exist 20 years ago? How do you compare the cost of a McMansion to the kinds of houses (tiny) that were being built 20 years ago? You can't. So instead people look at numbers they can calculate, and draw limited conclusions. It's a sort of selection bias based on what kinds of data we know how to work with.
The improvements in health care seem to be offset more and more by our poor food, sedentary lifestyles, and fractured relationships.
Maybe technology has made it cheaper to build a house, but that seems a wash as the dominant cost of housing is the property on which it is built.
In general, yes, technology improves our lives. But can not solve every problem in and of itself, and can exacerbate underlying problems if misused.