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I strongly disagree, and would go so far as to say that the only way this can be held true for our modern society is through willful delusion.
It requires that everyone suffer to some degree, and many significantly, to produce our material comforts. How many minimum wage workers in the West are particularly enthusiastic about their jobs? How many people do exactly the same things they would if they had infinite wealth and no need to labor for a living? Vanishingly few, none if you consider where said wealth came from.
I posit that almost anyone who had a tangible option of introducing Utopia at the cost of one suffering child would pick that option, either in a heartbeat like myself, or after much groaning and wringing of hands. It's only because it's a work of fiction that people can convince themselves that they'd do otherwise.
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