Social progress is being held back by the work of Adam Smith, and the Puritan belief that idle hands are the devil's hands.

In 1982, America threw out 40% of the food it served. In the same year and for 3 decades, America alone spent as much celebrating Christmas as it would take to feed the world per capita a very rich diet for a full year. That's just one example. We are a wealthy species and our society does not reflect it.