5 ms·

> He’s saying, “you ought to own the stuff you possess.” Which I didn’t think was a controversial opinion but I guess I stand corrected. I think you and the au

> He’s saying, “you ought to own the stuff you possess.” Which I didn’t think was a controversial opinion but I guess I stand corrected. I think you and the author conflated ownership of "stuff" with ownership of--or a stake in--society. All of the things you listed as owning versus the not-owning (whether it's called renting or leasing or subscribing) are trade-offs you made because you value the concept of ownership of stuff over the opposite. My view is different: I want ownership of society; I want to be a full participant in society, regardless of the actual state of being of the physical and electronic objects around me. This is why, for example, I give money to local journalists on Patreon, and why I deliberately live in a smaller place in a large city where I can pay taxes to a well-funded library system. This is the type of "ownership" I value. Other things I do, like ride mass transit, subscribe to Spotify, and pay my city electric bill (I wasn't aware that buying electricity from my municipality impacted my "ownership" of anything, as the author claims), are all things I do because I find them to be more efficient or more useful to me. There are things I unequivocally own, like records or my treasured collection of baseball cards, that have value to me beyond my simple possession of them. There are some things I own, like my residence, where ownership has been more of a burden to me than a non-ownership method would have. It's all about balance. (One last question: Could you clarify "I do my own taxes?" What is it that doing taxes yourself, presumably by pen and calculator, gains over downloading a product like TaxAct and saving the PDF of the result?)

ryandrake 8y ago
> (One last question: Could you clarify "I do my own taxes?" What is it that doing taxes yourself, presumably by pen and calculator, gains over downloading a product like TaxAct and saving the PDF of the result?) The general principle I failed to articulate is that all other things being equal, I value Self Reliance over Interdependence. There are varying levels of interdependence though, maybe I can take a stab at ranking them from least objectionable/risky to most. 1. Dependence on friends and family: largely acceptable in my view 2. Dependence on local community, groups, churches, etc. 3. Dependence on local government, public transport, libraries, etc. 4. Dependence on state/national government 5. Dependence on local businesses 6. Dependence on remote/global businesses You might notice that the ranking is also ordered by how accountable (at least in theory) they are to you in terms of their actions, where businesses tend to be the least accountable. You can’t vote them out or alter their bad behavior, and their interests least align with yours. EDIT Also, I don’t see how paying a corporation for a Spotify subscription gives me any kind of “stake in society”.
- dsfyu404ed 8y ago
  I'd personally flip 4 and 5 since I think having incentive not to screw you and recourse if you get screwed is important. Local businesses have much more reason not to screw people and people have much more recourse when screwed compared to state or national government.
  - nigelcleland 8y ago
    I'd agree, another way to look at is who do you have the greatest recourse to when something goes wrong. Local businesses will often be more sensitive to their customers than local governments. National governments will be even less sensitive.
    - dsfyu404ed 8y ago
      Local businesses can't shoot your dog or take your kids and say "oops, take it to court if you don't like it" (well they can, it'll just work out very, very badly for them).

ryandrake 8y ago

> (One last question: Could you clarify "I do my own taxes?" What is it that doing taxes yourself, presumably by pen and calculator, gains over downloading a product like TaxAct and saving the PDF of the result?) The general principle I failed to articulate is that all other things being equal, I value Self Reliance over Interdependence. There are varying levels of interdependence though, maybe I can take a stab at ranking them from least objectionable/risky to most. 1. Dependence on friends and family: largely acceptable in my view 2. Dependence on local community, groups, churches, etc. 3. Dependence on local government, public transport, libraries, etc. 4. Dependence on state/national government 5. Dependence on local businesses 6. Dependence on remote/global businesses You might notice that the ranking is also ordered by how accountable (at least in theory) they are to you in terms of their actions, where businesses tend to be the least accountable. You can’t vote them out or alter their bad behavior, and their interests least align with yours. EDIT Also, I don’t see how paying a corporation for a Spotify subscription gives me any kind of “stake in society”.

dsfyu404ed 8y ago
I'd personally flip 4 and 5 since I think having incentive not to screw you and recourse if you get screwed is important. Local businesses have much more reason not to screw people and people have much more recourse when screwed compared to state or national government.
- nigelcleland 8y ago
  I'd agree, another way to look at is who do you have the greatest recourse to when something goes wrong. Local businesses will often be more sensitive to their customers than local governments. National governments will be even less sensitive.
  - dsfyu404ed 8y ago
    Local businesses can't shoot your dog or take your kids and say "oops, take it to court if you don't like it" (well they can, it'll just work out very, very badly for them).