Measuring the world in numbers is a mathematical effort and will never be accurate. No matter what numbers we use, they can be so wrong that a calculation based on slight deviations at the beginning, the end of a calculation can be unbelievably distorted. Similar to when a tailor derives the real body dimensions from a miniature cut, taking a pen that is too thick and applying the centimetre inaccurately.
The dogma you speak of as dictated is supported and endorsed by us - the ordinary people - in the same way. The average Joe wouldn't have to work as much and as hard as he thinks. He could be content with less if he wasn't so keen on imitating rich Joe. But someone like me, who knows that he depends on average Joe just as much as he depends on rich Joe, looks for an inconspicuous niche where he neither works too little nor too much, neither accumulates too little nor too much matter and lives his life in waves. Sometimes in good times and sometimes in less good times. I admire the geniuses and creatives of the past and present times, I watch those who simply see their work as an administrative activity and those who are driven by ambition, restlessness and stress. Fortunately, people are so different and do not all live by the same rules and rhythms. Although a majority seems to do so. But the minorities are always the beneficiaries of a more indifferent and less active majority, which seems to be great at complaining, but sluggish at changing. I would think that this is an advantage for me personally. I take advantage of this fact and have made myself a little comfortable in it. The wealth of others is my advantage. Very, very indirectly. At the same time, it's my disadvantage. No one dimensional viewpoint possible.
Right, the result of what we have today is owed to a past, a development that began long before we were even born. What people create is difficult to dismantle or even make disappear. It is quite complicated to do something new without destroying the old or causing radical pain.
We see a mishmash of it. Destruction of what was, renewal and slow change, a rather gentle change where the old is transformed into the new without a hard transition.
But growth always comes to an end on a time scale. This is beyond human existence, because we never live so long to observe a development completely. There is therefore no beginning and no end.
Whether entropy and order are in balance can only be discussed by cosmic considerations. My life and that of those I know is touched by both. I am beyond being able to judge whether the apocalypse occurs during my lifetime. I can only make the best of it personally and send compassion into the field.