The problem today is that capitalism favors the individual (or legal entity) more than it favors society. Freedom and quality of life are generally ignored if they don't impact the bottom line. It's just assumed that the free market will figure it out and everyone will benefit in the long run.
So someone like Van Gogh is a perfect example of where it all breaks down. He (admirably) wasn't very interested in wealth or material things, he just wanted to be able to make a living doing what he was passionate about, and generally failed. There are millions of people throughout history who perfected their craft but since it wasn't recognized or rewarded, their potential contributions to society went largely unrecognized and unutilitized.
Today underemployment, tragedies of the commons and uncounted externalities are so rampant in our economy that (to me at least) it seems that they actually underpin it. So many problems like hunger, reliance on fossil fuels, lack of access to technology, just on and on, are relatively simple to fix and would only require a handful of dedicated people to make it happen. But say someone has an idea for a new generator that runs on waste heat, he or she can't get funding for it. Corporate and government research grants are all but gone, banks don't lend money for that stuff, and the only places that pay (universities) have erected nearly impassibly barriers to entry.
So here we are doing the same thing we’ve always done, toiled away our lives on generally pointless enterprises to make rent, while a few dispassionate sociopaths reap the benefits. The internet is completely broken right now in the way it ties data to its source. That’s not only likely, it’s destined, to be demolished here in the next few years. Stopping piracy is a fool’s errand, propped up by rent-seeking corporations that will go to the ends of the Earth, even undermine our legal system, to maintain the status quo.
What we should really be asking is how much longer we’re willing to tolerate the smoke and mirrors rather than just solving problems on a step by step basis once and for all. If we had a non-scarcity economy that did away with IP and started using technology to meet our basic needs, we wouldn’t need copyright in the first place. The robots could tend the hydroponic gardens while the living breathing humans could work on, I dunno, little things like enlightenment.