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I agree with the general ideology. Capitalism is optimized for maximising output, not happiness. In fact, capitalism will take happiness and convert it into ec

I agree with the general ideology. Capitalism is optimized for maximising output, not happiness. In fact, capitalism will take happiness and convert it into economic output. This is why people in the developed world have such high rates of depression and why we make terrible decisions when it comes to our own happiness. In the old days, to be happy, you just had to be able to satisfy your basic needs. Today, you HAVE to satisfy your needs, but you also need to satisfy your 'wants' and in some cases, your 'shoulds'. I think with today's technology (in the developed world) we are already more than capable of satisfying all of our needs without having to work much at all. I think the biggest evils of today's society are: 1. Marketing 2. Nepotism 3. Debt

x5n1 11y ago
Marketing exists because of the need to work, to generate demand for work itself. If we didn't need to work, then we could potentially abolish marketing. If we did that many industries would simply wither away and die. More and more work would be wiped off the table. A more natural state of being would form with things people actually wanted without being coerced. Debt would slowly disappear. And hopefully a society more at equilibrium with itself and the environment would form.
- jondubois 11y ago
  Your argument is impeccable. Well put.
- dopamean 11y ago
  If we lived in a society where there was no marketing and I invented something completely new that would genuinely help many people how should those people hear about it? Should they have to use word of mouth to discover that there is a product on the other side of the planet that would fix a problem for them? I'm not talking about a problem they didn't know they had but a problem they didn't know could be solved.
  - Jedd 11y ago
    Can you give us one example of a problem people knew they had, but didn't know could be solved?
    - dopamean 11y ago
      Anyone in sub-Saharan Africa who contracts HIV and is either unaware of the existence or benefits of using condoms.
  - x5n1 11y ago
    Yes. Word of mouth should be enough. If people have a real problem they know about they go actively searching for a solution to the problem. Otherwise, despite what you claim, I doubt your discovery is really that helpful. For instance if people contract HIV and know that they have HIV because free health care, then their doctor will tell them about it. The doctor is well informed through word of mouth in the doctor community should give them some advice that should include information about your product. That happens without any explicit marketing. Same with a lot of other things. Before the invention of mass media and modern marketing there was still marketing, but it was not mass media, and it was more implicit than explicit. It was more organic. That's really all that you are hoping for... nothing more than that. Marketing is natural. Mass media is not.
    - dopamean 11y ago
      Makes sense. I was responding specifically to the term marketing and not the idea of mass media. I wouldn't argue with you on those points.

x5n1 11y ago

Marketing exists because of the need to work, to generate demand for work itself. If we didn't need to work, then we could potentially abolish marketing. If we did that many industries would simply wither away and die. More and more work would be wiped off the table. A more natural state of being would form with things people actually wanted without being coerced. Debt would slowly disappear. And hopefully a society more at equilibrium with itself and the environment would form.

jondubois 11y ago
Your argument is impeccable. Well put.
dopamean 11y ago
If we lived in a society where there was no marketing and I invented something completely new that would genuinely help many people how should those people hear about it? Should they have to use word of mouth to discover that there is a product on the other side of the planet that would fix a problem for them? I'm not talking about a problem they didn't know they had but a problem they didn't know could be solved.
- Jedd 11y ago
  Can you give us one example of a problem people knew they had, but didn't know could be solved?
  - dopamean 11y ago
    Anyone in sub-Saharan Africa who contracts HIV and is either unaware of the existence or benefits of using condoms.
- x5n1 11y ago
  Yes. Word of mouth should be enough. If people have a real problem they know about they go actively searching for a solution to the problem. Otherwise, despite what you claim, I doubt your discovery is really that helpful. For instance if people contract HIV and know that they have HIV because free health care, then their doctor will tell them about it. The doctor is well informed through word of mouth in the doctor community should give them some advice that should include information about your product. That happens without any explicit marketing. Same with a lot of other things. Before the invention of mass media and modern marketing there was still marketing, but it was not mass media, and it was more implicit than explicit. It was more organic. That's really all that you are hoping for... nothing more than that. Marketing is natural. Mass media is not.
  - dopamean 11y ago
    Makes sense. I was responding specifically to the term marketing and not the idea of mass media. I wouldn't argue with you on those points.