This seems to imply that this is the only path to increase standards of living (at least temporarily).

It seems more to be a path to greater profits for the mining operations because they can privatize the profits and subsidize the costs. There's ongoing research in increasing the efficiency of resource extraction and it's the path we should be pursuing rather than strip mining the ocean floor.

It all depends on how you phrase the question. If you mention only improved living standards and not how these are going to be implemented, well, you get the point.

Better standard of living until we run out of oxygen and all die of asphyxiation maybe