Well then by that logic, wouldn't creating "pleasant experiences" and influencing user behavior by creating a path of least resistance be equally as unethical?

I'm legitimately curious as to where you draw the line. Where do you feel, in the framework of an attention economy specifically, that we can then safely draw the line between what is good ethics and what is bad ethics, outside of legitimately compelling a user to do something?

Is prompting a user to act in their own best interests unethical?

Does creating an oasis in a desert compel a person to drink? Does creating a trail in a forest compel a person to walk down it?

See this is the problem we face as UXer's isn't it? We can draw the line and say that we won't use intentionally habit forming or addictive paradigms in our processes, but does that guarantee that a user won't become similarly addicted to that process, just because it's there and a better option than not using it?

Seems like there may, in fact, be a lot of grey area here Debfab, and I would recon that as UX designers it's more than likely our job to keep that in mind as we create experiences that ultimately help to shape users' outcomes.