Our society is doomed
I think, as a measure of the advancement of society, we could look at the perceived requirement for (and tolerance of) coercion:
As Harry Binswanger says so memorably, the symbol of political power is the gun. The symbol of economic power is the dollar.
The only power a business has to induce customers to give it money is the value of its products. If a business started to produce an inferior product, it would eventually lose its customers. By contrast, the only power that the government has to offer is a threat: "We'll dictate what businessmen can and cannot do - and businessmen better toe the line or we'll throw them in jail."
Blurring the distinction between the dollar and the gun is a favourite ploy of statists, who use this equivocation to justify the curbing of economic freedom through the extension of political controls. "There is no difference between being dictated to by a politician and by a businessman," fudges the statist, "so what harm is done by giving more to the politician and less to the businessman?" Answer - immeasurable.
I came across that quote while looking for this quote from Ayn Rand:
"When the productive have to ask permission from the unproductive in order to produce," said author Ayn Rand, "then you may know that your society is doomed."
The problem with economic power is not markets but unfair markets. Where can we look for reasons why our markets are so unfair? Well political power (for example the grant of monopolies either legally or illegally) seems a pretty fair bet.
All this supports what I have come to believe: the future is not star trek.