The philosopher Rick Roderick does a talk about existential priorities, about how the necessary conditions for appreciating literature are having food in your s

The philosopher Rick Roderick does a talk about existential priorities, about how the necessary conditions for appreciating literature are having food in your stomach - that kind of Maslow's stuff. In it there's this absolutely devastating, knock-down line where he says of modernity; "People aren't afraid of dying any more. We're afraid of being seen wearing the wrong trainers" That was like 1997, and it sound truer today than ever. In a culture so steeped in vanity, with entire economies built on vanity, it's no wonder that form triumphs over function. To even talk about function is to invite ridicule. This is an age where people need a _thin_ laptop, no matter that it costs 10x the price, breaks if you stare at it too hard, and catches fire when you charge it.