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Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed (2010)

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Re: Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed (2010)

#51

Post by n8cpdx »

Invictus0 wrote: post #34

I am a man and I own 13 pairs of shoes. They're mostly specialized--water shoes, snow boots, steel toe, fancy shoes, flip flops, running shoes, and several pairs of dress shoes. But when I was backpacking in Europe, I only carried one pair of black Timberland boots with me, which took me from the nightclub to the top of the Tatras to the catacombs of Paris. It's amazing how effortlessly I accumulate junk and how ever…

The trend towards larger homes and storage probably contributes to accumulation.

I’m in a ~450 sq ft studio and having to consciously think about where a new purchase will go cuts down on buying “junk” and makes me a lot quicker to sell or dispose of things that are just taking up space.

Similarly, when I moved to a city with hideously expensive parking, I sold my car when I wasn’t using it enough to justify the expense.

Re: Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed (2010)

#52

Post by ergest »

I agree that the 40h workweek is not technically “designed” per se but rather it’s the best confluence of factors such as keeping competition at bay, keeping society productive, making people feel useful, making life purposeful for many, etc. It’s the current local minima. If we could work 60 or 80 hours and still get the same benefits, we’d do so. However, nobody has experimented with working less while others work more because competition will eat you up.

Re: Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed (2010)

#53

Post by z3ncyberpunk »

Sebb767 wrote: post #18

> The ultimate tool for corporations to sustain a culture of this sort is to develop the 40-hour workweek as the normal lifestyle. Under these working conditions people have to build a life in the evenings and on weekends. I slightly disagree with this point. The 40 hour work week is a rather recent development; in the past, people had to work a lot longer with no or only one day of. The trend actually goes in the di…

[dead]

Re: Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed (2010)

#54

Post by agumonkey »

ilamont wrote: post #5

Western economies, particularly that of the United States, have been built in a very calculated manner on gratification, addiction, and unnecessary spending. Calculated, like in planned-economy, directive-from-the-top? I disagree. A lot of the "fluff," as the author describes it, is excess capital finding its way to things people find pleasurable, whether it be dope, travel, beauty, or rock and roll. Purveyors of suc…

In consumerist societies "pleasurable" is very much stretched, when your life is dull, you'll find spending money on whatever cool guy is trying to sell you. People with big pockets know all about your flaws, social behavior in the large, fads and followers, and they sure play with it like an orchestra conductor.

unlike russian communism you're not forced to do anything but you're seduced out of your mind, I guess it's fair

Re: Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed (2010)

#55

Post by bulletsvshumans »

quesera wrote: post #29
captainmuon wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counterpoint: What do you think "fashion" is? I used to think there were some very cool, fashion-adept people, who have the ability to predict what will considered modern next year. The reality is, the clothing industry decides what to produce at least 6-12 months in advance. It's not like they produce everything and public opinion decides in the end what is "cool". Granted, the industry tries to predict what will be…

It's really not that simple. Fashion is an industry where hundreds of individual designers, some with the backing of megacorps and some without, try to meet popular interest (or to lead it), with production times measured in weeks to months, and with seasonal variation. There is no "fashion cabal" where designers get together for drinks and to anoint "cerulean blue" as the color of 2023 and then pull their customers…

> There is no "fashion cabal" where designers get together for drinks and to anoint "cerulean blue" as the color of 2023 and then pull their customers by the nose ring into purchasing.

"Twice a year Pantone hosts, in a European capital, a secret meeting of representatives from various nations' color standards groups. After two days of presentations and debate, they choose a color for the following year."

"OVER 20 YEARS OF INFLUENCING PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND PURCHASING DECISIONS"

https://www.pantone.com/color-of-the-year-archive

Re: Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed (2010)

#56

Post by jhbadger »

coldtea wrote: post #49
jeffreyrogers wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more akin to evolution operating on culture rather than genes. Corporations are trying various things to differentiate themselves and be profitable. The ones that consumers like either due to real interest or due to marketing keep getting made/refined, the rest die off. And the process repeats from there.

> It's more akin to evolution operating on culture rather than genes. Only there's no evolution. It's just "buy this" and "now buy that", because if you continued to buy the previous (or a perennial) model, they'd be out of sales. That's not some cultural evolution. Before 19th-20th century marketing and mass advertising societies could do decades without changing fashions.

Maybe among peasants, but the upper classes were very fashion conscious and things changed, maybe not quite as rapidly as today, but still. For example, in America we picture our founding fathers as wearing powdered wigs, as that was the style around the time of the Revolution. But that was a comparatively brief fad, and a decade later had fallen out of fashion.

Re: Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed (2010)

#57

Post by WalterBright »

captainmuon wrote: post #13
ilamont wrote: post #5

Western economies, particularly that of the United States, have been built in a very calculated manner on gratification, addiction, and unnecessary spending. Calculated, like in planned-economy, directive-from-the-top? I disagree. A lot of the "fluff," as the author describes it, is excess capital finding its way to things people find pleasurable, whether it be dope, travel, beauty, or rock and roll. Purveyors of suc…

Counterpoint: What do you think "fashion" is? I used to think there were some very cool, fashion-adept people, who have the ability to predict what will considered modern next year. The reality is, the clothing industry decides what to produce at least 6-12 months in advance. It's not like they produce everything and public opinion decides in the end what is "cool". Granted, the industry tries to predict what will be…

I've been wearing the exact same jeans cut for 30 years now. When they get holes, I just push a button on Amazon for more. My dress shirts are 20-30 years old. They're not out of style.

Of course, I've never been cool, so there's that.

Re: Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed (2010)

#58

Post by goodpoint »

agumonkey wrote: post #54
ilamont wrote: post #5

Western economies, particularly that of the United States, have been built in a very calculated manner on gratification, addiction, and unnecessary spending. Calculated, like in planned-economy, directive-from-the-top? I disagree. A lot of the "fluff," as the author describes it, is excess capital finding its way to things people find pleasurable, whether it be dope, travel, beauty, or rock and roll. Purveyors of suc…

In consumerist societies "pleasurable" is very much stretched, when your life is dull, you'll find spending money on whatever cool guy is trying to sell you. People with big pockets know all about your flaws, social behavior in the large, fads and followers, and they sure play with it like an orchestra conductor. unlike russian communism you're not forced to do anything but you're seduced out of your mind, I guess it…

> you're not forced to do anything

You are forced to choose between working to pay rent and health insurance or go hungry, homeless and ill or in prison.

In various developed societies there is free healthcare, social safety nets, or some forms of UBI or other help.

> but you're seduced out of your mind, I guess it's fair

Fair? Consumerism is threatening all ife on the planet. Humanity can do so much better.

Re: Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed (2010)

#60

Post by awillen »

bulletsvshumans wrote: post #55
quesera wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really not that simple. Fashion is an industry where hundreds of individual designers, some with the backing of megacorps and some without, try to meet popular interest (or to lead it), with production times measured in weeks to months, and with seasonal variation. There is no "fashion cabal" where designers get together for drinks and to anoint "cerulean blue" as the color of 2023 and then pull their customers…

> There is no "fashion cabal" where designers get together for drinks and to anoint "cerulean blue" as the color of 2023 and then pull their customers by the nose ring into purchasing. "Twice a year Pantone hosts, in a European capital, a secret meeting of representatives from various nations' color standards groups. After two days of presentations and debate, they choose a color for the following year." "OVER 20 YEA…

Wow... this is maybe the best counterpoint I've ever seen on HN.
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