“They walked across about half an acre of carpet that you could lose a croquet ball in, came to another set of glass doors, and went through those.”
Why Cool Doesn’t Fit on the Assembly Line
“What eventually led to the undoing of these views was the failure to appreciate the competitive nature of our consumption and the significance of positional goods. Houses in good neighborhoods, tasteful furniture, fast cars, stylish restaurants and cool clothes are intrinsically scarce. We cannot manufacture more of them because their value is based on the distinction that they provide to consumers. Thus the idea of overcoming scarcity through increased productivity is incoherent; in our society, scarcity is a social, not a material, phenomenon.”
Nation of Rebels, p. 294
Developed in the Cellars of Isengard
“The landscaped slopes on either side of the broad steps were covered with junipers, which Rourke had long considered to be the orcs of the plant kingdom. The automatic sprinklers on a timer were busily spritzing them, which just made them wet, botanical orcs.”
Big Eva: Nice and Fragile
Introduction: As many of you know, I have really enjoyed the books of Nassim Nicholas Taleb. In the true confessions department, I have not yet read every last one of his books, but I have read the ...
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Not Mindless Adapters
“The notion that we are all brainwashed by technology is, of course, just the standard critique of mass society dressed up in different clothes . . . [but] we aren’t unconscious, we aren’t brainwashed and we aren’t sleepwalking.”
Nation of Rebels, pp. 291-292
Panic All the Way Down
“But this was panic on stilts and steroids. This was a prison riot. The noise from that isolated chamber down below few more insistent. A metal cup raked across the bars. Guards! And somewhere farther up, unseen clammy hands were industriously attaching a nylon strap and winch around the upper portion of Chad’s chest and ratcheting it tight”
Letters Were to be Expected
Morning . . . Letter to the Editor: You gloss over it but it is quite disturbing that the editors of P&R would have even given this a second look let alone a first. Jeff ...
Becoming Thus a Major Part of Mass Society
“Nowhere is the temptation toward exoticism more evident—or more lucrative—than in the burgeoning ‘alternative medicine’ industry . . . ‘alternative’ medicine is big money . . . The concept of alternative medicine is essentially a byproduct of the critique of mass society”
Nation of Rebels, p. 278
To Music We Can’t Hear
“Sunbeams streamed through the slats of the well-adjusted blinds, spotlighting tiny motes wrapping up a hard day of dancing”
Your Great Grandmother on Roller Blades
Introduction: I am afraid that the next chapter of Beyond Authority and Submission is bad enough to make your front teeth ache. It is something of a global embarrassment. It makes you want to ...
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