And is what you describe above - what you deem is operative today? Or believe will / ought to be operative by and by?

Again your examples subordinate society / all of life! (animals as chattels, all else as 'material' - including manpower) - to economic theory, macro, mini or micro. The societal failure! [your phrase!] is that 'it' didn't meet the contract requirements for the larger authority: bizness!! Bizness had no obligation to inhabitants' skill-sets beyond: cherry picking those appropriate to its initial product; certainly no incentive to build a different one.

(Corollary: can we 'afford' a surfeit of toys we cannot build except at the cost of - destruction of everything from the (now) unmaintained infrastructure and - of any job stability except for the smaller and smaller minority?)

I repeat, the above is tantamount to saying more than approximately:

The 'purpose' of life IS to meet a bizness agenda. !!
What else do you mean by, 'societal failure'?

Such an idea would, however - explain the utter disconnect from social reality, of the behavior of increasingly concentrated mega-Corporations, and the widening gap between the obscenely rich and the huge number of persons with 0 net worth.

(I'm sure you can find the numbers for those with [-] net 'worth', factor in the absence of savings - a recent Murican habit, and note the direction of the 1st derivative of that wealth distribution curve)

I can think of few dystopias from my sourcebook -- much more robotic than the above: 'efficiency' / time-motion obsession / unlimited consumption for its own sake / subordination of the vast majority to the whim of an elite.

That's not what anyone came here to try to build, nor what was operative here as recently as 30 years ago. It is a grotesque parody of the various principles of the Founding Mothers, however often mouthed still.

I'm not sure how long the cannon-fodder would fight new wars to maintain such a structure.. as and when the realization dawned - despite the manic noise level of distractions intended to keep the flock docile.

Are you sure you read your macro- text right, as to priorities? Please verify:

First: the desires of the Corporations must be met.

Second: the needs of the living non-robotic inhabitants, as and only if - they fulfill the demands of the Corporations.

Third: inhabitants may not modify the Corporation rules, to alter this priority, or decide how national wealth shall be distributed ie theoretically yes; in long practice: no.

That it? Is that Murica 2K according to your hymnal?


Ashton
Dismal may be too kind a word; how about Diabolical?