81–90 of 168 posts
I don't understand how one would buy it. Any help?
https://www.ebay.de/itm/147282358614
Yes, you will pay more than the original price. But once every 30 years or so I don’t give a fuck, I want this because the video showed a man working on it who cared.
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This is needlessly judgmental and draws false equivalences between expression, impression, and consumerism.
I do think the mention of consumerism is apt. In my own encounters with those that seem to take pride in their inability to distinguish certain nuances, it does come off as a mental block borne of not wanting to feel like they are missing out on expensive things. I think it cuts both ways though — there are those who will exaggerate or outright fabricate subtle differences in order to justify their expensive purchase…
You are right about it cutting both ways though. I remember laptop shopping with a colleague in the past. They were trying to replace a barely functional laptop that they purchased because of its "design" with something they could get work done on. Unfortunately, they refused to acknowledge that functionality is an element of design. The whole experience was one of frustration.
This calculator appears to fit into a similar category. I'm sure it is a perfectly fine calculator, functionally speaking, if you are performing basic financial calculations. It isn't going to cut it if your working outside of that domain. When you consider that a calculator that is a tenth (or even a hundredth) of the price is going to offer a similar experience, I'm not even sure I would regard the nuances in its design a good thing. Yes, it says something about it's owner. I'm just not sure it says the right thing.
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Ugh, I hate scalpers!
I do not have negative feelings against resellers of luxury products. That is just supply and demand at work.
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This is needlessly judgmental and draws false equivalences between expression, impression, and consumerism.
I do think the mention of consumerism is apt. In my own encounters with those that seem to take pride in their inability to distinguish certain nuances, it does come off as a mental block borne of not wanting to feel like they are missing out on expensive things. I think it cuts both ways though — there are those who will exaggerate or outright fabricate subtle differences in order to justify their expensive purchase…
But I should add (contrary to the rebuttal my provocative take attracted) that I am in fact very finely tuned to esthetics. As a photographer I'm obsessed with getting everything right (composition, light, texture, color, details) and routinely delete everything that doesn't make the cut.
It just seems obvious to me that in consumer products, most of the differences are pretty small in substantive terms. Big economic interests are at stake in amplifying them, and conjuring up demand through marketing, and generally manipulating us.
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>It is like going from a 2010 LCD to a 2026 OLED screen. Revealing. I'll bet plenty still can't tell the difference (or don't care). I'm one. I've always used low-end laptops, mobiles, clothes, vehicles, anything else you can think of. I care that it functions (so I buy good brands and new) but everything else except price is a very secondary. When I read things like "rich, vivid colors" in a description of a screen,…
You're not the only one. There are millions of people out there who have no appreciation for art, craft, skill, quality, or finesse. They're very base people who go through life seeing only price tags, and tallying worth only in dollar figures. They act like life is a video game and money is the score. It's a shallow life, devoid of the appreciation of all the wonderful things available, and in my estimation, barely…
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I do think the mention of consumerism is apt. In my own encounters with those that seem to take pride in their inability to distinguish certain nuances, it does come off as a mental block borne of not wanting to feel like they are missing out on expensive things. I think it cuts both ways though — there are those who will exaggerate or outright fabricate subtle differences in order to justify their expensive purchase…
Somewhat convincing analysis. But I should add (contrary to the rebuttal my provocative take attracted) that I am in fact very finely tuned to esthetics. As a photographer I'm obsessed with getting everything right (composition, light, texture, color, details) and routinely delete everything that doesn't make the cut. It just seems obvious to me that in consumer products , most of the differences are pretty small in…
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I do not have negative feelings against resellers of luxury products. That is just supply and demand at work.
No, it’s not. One thing is to resell an item after you’ve used/enjoyed it and then maybe its value has increased. Much different is to buy an item to sell immediately and making a quick profit.
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You're not the only one. There are millions of people out there who have no appreciation for art, craft, skill, quality, or finesse. They're very base people who go through life seeing only price tags, and tallying worth only in dollar figures. They act like life is a video game and money is the score. It's a shallow life, devoid of the appreciation of all the wonderful things available, and in my estimation, barely…
And what’s wrong with that? You’re rarely or never disappointed while enjoying most things. I’d say it results in a life well lived rather than nitpicking every single little detail.
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Somewhat convincing analysis. But I should add (contrary to the rebuttal my provocative take attracted) that I am in fact very finely tuned to esthetics. As a photographer I'm obsessed with getting everything right (composition, light, texture, color, details) and routinely delete everything that doesn't make the cut. It just seems obvious to me that in consumer products , most of the differences are pretty small in…
The example I had in mind was actually audio equipment. Like, clearly the high end stuff gets into diminishing returns to a point somewhere between absurdity and mysticism. But I’ve also had a friend that was completely convinced that vinyl sounds the same as spotify, and that anyone who thought otherwise was just a pretentious poseur.
Why is everyone on HN so fascinated with calculators? Was that your first real pc that you could program?
buttons ? knobs ? we are fascinated by machines. It's curiosity about the inner workings of the machine and fascination by the mistery of the closed box. you can observe that in certain kids