You could only come to the conclusion that capitalism is making us more resource efficient if you cherry-pick a few examples while completely ignoring the vast changes in human consumption in the last 50 years.

One thing in particular comes to mind: The drastic shortening of appliances’ useful life. Large appliances that used to last 20–30 years now last 10. The contribution to energy demand and global warming of a washing machine with a life cycle of 5 years is 40 percent higher than one that lasts 20 years, factoring in higher energy efficiency.

That’s not to mention the wasted metal and other materials or landfill space.

TVs and other small appliances are even more prone to breaking because price is the most important factor rather than durability.

From a news article about a German study on obsolescence:

Manufacturers instead factor in a certain product lifetime according to target groups, applications and product cycles. For television sets, for example, consumers expect new developments within one year’s time. This innovation cycle may impair quality, and thus some sets are now only tested for a few well-known weak points and no longer comprehensively. This can reduce the duration of testing from several months to just a few weeks.

You mention that iPhones replace other “gizmos.” Well that maybe true, but iPhones are an example of another form of planned obsolescence. They’re designed to go out of style every year on schedule when the new one comes out.

I mean does this look like the efficient use of resources to you?

Capitalism is based on selling products and accumulation. The profit motive doesn’t favor building products that last a long time or that are modular, allowing them to be updated constantly.

We need to build an economic system that’s based around durable goods and the widespread distribution of abundance.