Does anyone argue this idea?
If so then why do people like the Amish exist? They seem pretty happy to me, with little.
Maybe I am naive, but do Amish typically worry about money and about materialistic things?
> Maybe I am naive, but do Amish typically worry about money and about materialistic things?
Imho everyone worries about materialistic things to a certain degree, as a potatoe for example is very materialistic thing and we cannot eat virtual goods (yet). The potatoe example can also be used illustrate another aspect - all materialistic things will decay over time, thus naturally ppl would not hoard tons of goods beside what they need for themselves or for trading for other goods (which will also decay, so it makes no sense to overly hoard traded goods either).
This did not change much throughout history. Also there was only one outstanding exception to that naturalistic equilibrium - land. Even old bronze age societies already fought for fertile land as thats the very base to sustain life and furthermore it provides access to other resources like ore and such, that we learned to process into other goods. So history tells us - yes thats possible, also the Amish kinda still live in that tradition.
What really changed that almost-equilibrium was the invention of the modern money with the bank system. The big difference now is, that this virtual good "money" does not decay naturally (given the economy is stable). Instead the system even boost itself by constantly creating more money de-valuating itself. Most of us love to see the numbers increasing, because we tend to believe we can buy more things from that. But later we realize that goods just get a higher price tag instead (inflation), which furthr boost the money hunger.
Here we are - the big hoarding tendency in western societies has a lot to do with our money system.
I don't think they are saying we're stuck in some endless loop to specifically acquire money or stuff, but that we are stuck in an endless loop to do something, whatever it may be. This could mean acquiring stuff for some, volunteering and donating for some, baking pastries or going fishing for others.
Decline in fertility rates can be attributed to external causes, not because humans fundamentally no longer want to procreate.