Assume this is true & that death erases all debt (the latter is true most places I think).
Is that a bad thing per se? I can see it being obviously bad if we’re saying debt as in debtors prison. As if being in debt enslaved you and traps you - this was how things used to work in some places for sure.
But assuming it’s debt that cannot enslave (big assumption, sure: see US student debt..)
Isn’t debt the creditor extending leverage and (in the right circumstances, see above) sharing some of that leverage with the debtor?
In the OP’s case - would it be very hard to envisage a scenario where this bloke could have a more efficient boat and computer? Where’s that would give him leverage that in turn would create more value for himself and whatever he chose than the debt he owed?
I think sometimes people take instruments that sometimes encourage or enable very bad things and then blame the tool. I can think of knives, guns, cash, etc.
Debt is probably the same thing? Bad if wielded by powerful forces that essentially allow enslavement, but powerfully good if not?
Just a thought experiment for sure.