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> The vast majority of working adults in the US are employed in the making and selling of things people don't need. A world without bullshit is total, utter eco
by beagle3 11y ago
> The vast majority of working adults in the US are employed in the making and selling of things people don't need. A world without bullshit is total, utter economic collapse.
There's little difference between "things that people don't need", and "things that people may need but are done inefficiently".
In the late 19th century, you might have said that "a world with cars means utter economic collapse of the whip-and-buggy-and-horse trades". And you would be right - but that just means people (and jobs) are reallocated to more useful stuff.
And that is what would (and should, but never will) happen if bullshit is eradicated -- rather than total economic collapse. This kind of eradication does not happen overnight - it takes a long time, and except for the incumbents who are too happy with their share, everyone sees it coming and adjusts accordingly.
- superuser2 11y ago>but that just means people (and jobs) are reallocated to more useful stuff. No one argues that bullshit is constantly being iterated on. But cars are bullshit - i.e. we lived for a long time without them, and they needed to be advertised to take hold. Now simply having a car is entrenched bullshit, and the cutting edge is convincing people to buy expensive ones. You don't need a car, but cars are necessary to facilitate the American Dream, also sold to us by advertising in the 40s/50s, of living in suburbs. Home ownership and the things that go with it are equally bullshit. One of the first documented shifts in public opinion orchestrated by a PR firm is America's belief that roads are for cars instead of people.