A situation of great material prosperity, but only for superfluous consumer goods and entertainment content that do not bring
happiness or meaning to one's life.
More specifically, it refers to the post-covid American economy–wherein real incomes are the highest they've ever been, food and material goods are available in incredible abundance and are unimaginaby cheap by the standards of any other time in
human history, there is utterly limitless choice in immediately-accessible entertainment for free or very low cost, travel to nearly anywhere in the
world is possible with for only a few days' pay, all the world's knowledge is accessible at one's fingertips, algorithms can instantaneously produce entire books, videos, games, programs, etc....but all the most truly meaningful and significant aspects of life (housing, healthcare, education, childcare) are unprecedentedly unaffordable.
Despite incredible prosperity in vapid material goods,
society suffers from widespread unhappiness and perceptions of unbearable indigence due to the inaccessibility of the
core building blocks of life. We possess opulence, but only for
slop.
Slopulence.
Tubi, Xbox Game
Pass, Spotify, particleboard furniture, disposable
fast-
fashion clothing, $1 Tortino's pizzas–all are peak examples of slopulence
