It's not even mass though, is it? Most of us have nothing to do with self-driving vehicles, but they're happening anyway. A relatively small group of people and companies just keep building and pursuing things.It is like a mass compulsion, I agree. I just happen to see plentiful reason to move in this direction, but yes it is a direction we seem to be moving in somewhat blindly, as if driven by some natural force.
But most of us contribute to the basis of consumption to which this research & development is responding to.It's not even mass though, is it? Most of us have nothing to do with self-riving vehicles, but they're happening anyway.
Insofar as some of our desires and motivations are manufactured/encouraged in order to warrant and render profitable an otherwise unviable business venture, sure.I think, beyond a certain point, it comes from the top down.
and quite stupid things for the most partIt's not even mass though, is it? Most of us have nothing to do with self-driving vehicles, but they're happening anyway. A relatively small group of people and companies just keep building and pursuing things.
this is one of the manuveres Stan has made for reasons of convinience and neatness and consistency. and moves made for these reasons tend to lead to a simplifcation of thought. your smoothing out something in your model, that in 'reality' is far from smoothI don't know how you resolve the need for perpetual growth at the heart of capitalism whilst preserving capitalism. We're ending up with more and more products of worse and worse quality and utility.
Due, in part, to mindless and unscrupulous consumers, who in turn have been informed by spontaneous and coordinated conditioning alike. Anyway, an efficient market with minimal tilting (i.e. people not being conditioned to desire stupid things with no utility or low quality) would entail that stupid products don't become successful.We're ending up with more and more products of worse and worse quality and utility.
Surely that will always run counter to maximising profit though? It's socially and environmentally healthier for people to buy one or two jackets, but profit demands you sell as many jackets as possible and increase the number sold indefinitely.I think the only way to really realize capitalism in a cosmic, compassionate way is to financially incentivize and/or politically mandate the social and environmental bottom lines. But until these can be bootstrapped, i.e. construed as financially profitable, I don't see how we can get there.
Yeah so the gordian knot here is how to financially incentivize certain ethical business practices. Not impossible, not unprecedented, but certainly difficult.Surely that will always run counter to maximising profit though? It's socially and environmentally healthier for people to buy one or two jackets, but profit demands you sell as many jackets as possible and increase the number sold indefinitely.