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I see this discussion popping up here and there. People are clearly tired of consuming for the sake of consuming. We seek other kicks. Nothing strange with that

I see this discussion popping up here and there. People are clearly tired of consuming for the sake of consuming. We seek other kicks. Nothing strange with that, this follows the development ladder of spiral dynamics or Maslow. But it's worth pondering what this does to the economy at large. What happens when we start to perceive value more in fluffy stuff like experiences than physical goods? It would certainly affect the job market and the opportunity cloud for startups. It's time for everyone in business to ask: what are people willing to pay for in the post consumer society? On the shopping list for a 21st century man would be: Experiences. Social status (never goes out of style, but the accessories do). Time. Health. Emotional comfort. This is worth keeping in mind when you build your startup. Can you package your service in such a way as to speak to the 21st century man in us all? This man does not just want to solve a problem, he wants to feel good and have fun doing it.

lwhi 16y ago
You're assuming that everyone has already managed to obtain everything they need. I don't think this is the case. Society is a spectrum - the person you are a describing resides at one end of that spectrum .. there are still many people who need (and want) to buy physical goods, over experiences.
gwern 16y ago
> But it's worth pondering what this does to the economy at large. What happens when we start to perceive value more in fluffy stuff like experiences than physical goods? It would certainly affect the job market and the opportunity cloud for startups. A narrow consideration, but not surprising for a Hacker News comment. I think the bigger picture is that this is a major transition in economies, and it is very good for people. Imagine a toy model economy where all the people have suddenly shifted to only wanting goods - let's say they are Pogs. They don't want any services. As it happens, there is an absolutely ginormous Pog-making machine which can meet the entire economy's demand for Pogs. And extremely efficiently, too, so that basically all it needs is some paper to run. What's going to happen in this economy? What will happen is that all the ordinary people will slowly transfer their capital and savings to the owner of the Pog machine in exchange for the Pogs they so crave, and the owner will make out like a bandit, since he only needs to pay the paper mill occasionally. (Nor will the owner be spreading the wealth - like everyone else, he lusts for Pogs.) In the extreme, everyone is a bankrupt peon with no job and the owner owns next to everything. You might think of this model as a little intuition-pump for 'what if robots ran all the machines in a manufacturing economy?' Fortunately, we aren't in such a manufacturing economy, but shifting to a service economy where the machines haven't taken the only jobs available, and so the robots and machines are on net very good for us - their manufactured wealth gets shared.
- erikstarck 16y ago
  > I think the bigger picture is that this is a major transition in economies, and it is very good for people. Oh, I agree. We're leaving the industrial age and that's a good (and big!) thing.

lwhi 16y ago

You're assuming that everyone has already managed to obtain everything they need. I don't think this is the case. Society is a spectrum - the person you are a describing resides at one end of that spectrum .. there are still many people who need (and want) to buy physical goods, over experiences.

gwern 16y ago

> But it's worth pondering what this does to the economy at large. What happens when we start to perceive value more in fluffy stuff like experiences than physical goods? It would certainly affect the job market and the opportunity cloud for startups. A narrow consideration, but not surprising for a Hacker News comment. I think the bigger picture is that this is a major transition in economies, and it is very good for people. Imagine a toy model economy where all the people have suddenly shifted to only wanting goods - let's say they are Pogs. They don't want any services. As it happens, there is an absolutely ginormous Pog-making machine which can meet the entire economy's demand for Pogs. And extremely efficiently, too, so that basically all it needs is some paper to run. What's going to happen in this economy? What will happen is that all the ordinary people will slowly transfer their capital and savings to the owner of the Pog machine in exchange for the Pogs they so crave, and the owner will make out like a bandit, since he only needs to pay the paper mill occasionally. (Nor will the owner be spreading the wealth - like everyone else, he lusts for Pogs.) In the extreme, everyone is a bankrupt peon with no job and the owner owns next to everything. You might think of this model as a little intuition-pump for 'what if robots ran all the machines in a manufacturing economy?' Fortunately, we aren't in such a manufacturing economy, but shifting to a service economy where the machines haven't taken the only jobs available, and so the robots and machines are on net very good for us - their manufactured wealth gets shared.

erikstarck 16y ago
> I think the bigger picture is that this is a major transition in economies, and it is very good for people. Oh, I agree. We're leaving the industrial age and that's a good (and big!) thing.