Earlier quoted context omitted.
Economic growth is another way of saying "improving people's lives". An economic system which always needs to improve people's lives is a good thing, actually. When you compare modern first world to 60 years ago, people's lives have significantly improved. And if you do the same in developed countries, the difference is unbelievable.
> When you compare modern first world to 60 years ago, people's lives have significantly improved. I disagree that most people's lives have "significantly improved" compared with the 1960s. We have more things, but I don't think that our lives are that much better, or even better at all. In the 1950s and 60s most families could get by with a one income household -- try that today. Even medically - on the one hand our…
This impression is contradicted by a mountain of data. Ourworldindata.org is a good place to start.
Anecdotally, when I talk to elderly people, they nearly all agree that they've witnessed substantial improvements in living standards. They're not always keen on the cultural changes, but they nearly always view modern living as "better off."