the 'inventing of luxuries' seems apt. That individuals would ever strive to differentiate selves as an 'individual' - is what I'd call the parent process, though.
Postulating a more mature stage of development, I see no inherent reason why the lust to accumulate, 'the competition to outconsume others' of today - is some inescapable human tendency; I believe it is learned behaviour, modified (in the US by the Puritanism and by early illusions/models of John Wayne rugged asocial individualism, yada yada).
But such as we are - of course John Galt's ideas weren't practicable (leaving aide all the mis-applications of Rand's entire schtik, since). Ditto Marx, Trotsky et al. 'Cost of production' and a bevy of other concepts from Mr. Keynes, as well as the entire Machiavellian mindset - are not IMhO Revealed Truth about humans either, merely efforts to codify that which we always seem to do. Such as we currently are.
Ashton