{"id":1304,"date":"2019-10-17T15:01:29","date_gmt":"2019-10-17T22:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pastushkov.com\/?p=1304"},"modified":"2019-10-17T15:03:25","modified_gmt":"2019-10-17T22:03:25","slug":"the-game-of-quantity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kotgpt.com\/pa\/the-game-of-quantity\/","title":{"rendered":"The Game of Quantity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Overconsumption is ingrained into the fabric of modern capitalism (say, as practiced in the US). While generating more than enough material goods for everyone, it can’t stop there and must keep generating more and more. This is how it works and it relies on overconsumption. In order to efficiently produce, someone has to consume the goods or else the whole model falls apart.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While overproduction, another inherent characteristic of capitalism, is curable with occasional recessions and crises, overconsumption is not. At least not so far, and with no clear path to resolution. «The more the better» is still the driving force and slogan for many. Business interests are ahead of anything else. Whatever cannot be done with money, can be done with big money. Most don’t even question the absolute validity and often plain absurdity of this.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

People eat bigger and bigger hamburgers, drink larger and larger cups (I’d rather all them buckets) of surgery drinks. They drive bigger and bigger cars, «commute trucks», live in bigger and bigger houses for there’s no small ones available for those who can afford a good place, say with a good school.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Marketing machine comes to play, and all of the sudden, people desperately want something they lived perfectly fine without. Then, thanks to the same machine, they need more and more of that. Supply and demand principle, the basis of classical capitalism, fulfills the needs and quickly so. But let\u2019s not forget — the demand often is CREATED by those who supply.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

«Growth is good, isn’t it?» — will tell you any venture capitalist.
\n<\/span>«Growth is all the is» — will echo the most successful ones.
\n«Where is the end?» — you may ask.
\n<\/span>«There’s no such a thing. End is death» — you’ll hear in return.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a result, the average person’s footprint on the environment and even on his own body is growing rapidly. The pace of this growth (the first derivative) is growing too. What happens to overconsuming people? They get fat, they get sick. \u201cNo problem!\u201d — replies the Machine. Here\u2019s the industrial solution: \u201cWe\u2019ll treat you with more and more pills, more and more medical services. Keep on consuming. The more the better.\u201d Nothing is free in this world. People would need to work more, to make just enough to keep on living. This is also supply and demand.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAre we all doomed?\u201d
\n<\/span>\u201cThe end of capitalism, again? Really?\u201d
\n\u201cWhat\u2019s the alternatives — socialism, communism?\u201d
\n<\/span>\u201cOh, another Marxist! Tried that. Didn\u2019t work\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Truth to be told: I did study Scientific Communism in the university. Yes, there was such a discipline, required in each and every higher education school in the country I grew up. At the time, nobody particularly likes this discipline, but it essential to get your diploma. Oddly enough, the main subject of it was not communism for it did not exist. It wasn\u2019t even socialism that existed but its socio-economic results were so poor it required the powerful propaganda Machine to convince people otherwise. \u201cPower Fool\u201d Machine, I\u2019d wanted to add, not dissimilar to advertising engines of modern consumerism. By and large Scientific Communism was about capitalism, although very few would admit it publicly (and remain free after). One of the pillars of Scientific Communism was dialectics.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And in dialectics it was one said \u201cquantity becomes quality\u201d. Or at least, it can become under the right circumstances. Today\u2019s overconsumption is largely quantitative. It\u2019s just easier to imagine 2 bigger than 1, therefore easier to sell 2 for one-and-half the price of 1. What if the industry sells 2 for the price of one-and-half, but twice as good? The question would be \u201cwhat\u2019s good?\u201d. Indeed, quality is very subjective unlike quantity — something kids learn in early childhood.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In other words, <\/span>can quantitative overproduction be turned into qualitative?<\/i><\/b> It does not contradict the supply and demand rules and even the infinite growth — both are being so important for modern capitalism — but it would be so much more compatible with the living being, and the environment they (us!) live in.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What if instead of cheap but large meal at the heart of capitalism — McDonalds — we\u2019d have a $20 healthy breakfast with all-natural ingredients, served on environmentally-friendly (and culturally more appealing) ceramic plate with reusable silverware not made of plastic? What is the demand for such a breakfast goes up? Sure enough, Burger King will follow suit (or die) shortly after. What if the younger generation will no longer \u201cchoose\u201d Pepsi and switch to water instead?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What if living in an environmentally-friendly house, not as big, or even apartment becomes trendy? What if choosing a car will be driven by \u201csmart\u201d vs. \u201clarge\u201d or \u201cfast\u201d? Many may realize they don\u2019t really need a car to begin with — bicycle or scooter is a good form of personal transportation in many situations, and the modern network of buses and railways is a good alternative for longer commute or travel?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What it Boeing would keep on building state-of-the-art aircraft with the focus on efficiency and environmental impact? Even military, as distant as it is from thinking of anything living — what if the military would be accountable based on ecological impact? Etc. etc.. I am not trying to list of of the \u201cwhat-ifs\u201d but assume you get the idea.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUtopia! Won\u2019t work!\u201d
\n<\/span>\u201cWhat would motivate people?\u201d
\n\u201cIn USSR (the second \u201cS\u201d is for socialist) they couldn\u2019t produce their own jeans\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, I am not talking about socialism at all. Not that socialism for sure. What\u2019s in question is the same old capitalism with market forces, Adam Smith\u2019s invisible hand, competition and all that jazz, but with a slightly different mindset targeting <\/span>quality<\/i><\/b> (of life) <\/span>vs. quantity<\/i><\/b>. That\u2019s all! Look at Scandinavia, for instance. Living there may illustrate this idea of quality-driven capitalism (or whatever you want to call it) better than words.<\/span><\/p>\n

Quantity has its limits<\/i><\/b> — natural resources, planet ecosystem, biological capacity to consume, etc. while <\/span>quality does not<\/i><\/b>. The question is — can a society outgrow this Game of Quantity without losing capacity to produce enough of what\u2019s needed for fulfilling happy life of its members? Or, the only alternative we have is to keep increasing the pace of our consumption, hoping for a miracle in the near future? <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Overconsumption is ingrained into the fabric of modern capitalism (say, as practiced in the US). While generating more than enough material goods for everyone, it can’t stop there and must keep generating more and more. This is how it works and it relies on overconsumption. In order to efficiently produce, someone has to consume the … Read moreThe Game of Quantity<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kotgpt.com\/pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kotgpt.com\/pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kotgpt.com\/pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kotgpt.com\/pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kotgpt.com\/pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kotgpt.com\/pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1304\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kotgpt.com\/pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kotgpt.com\/pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kotgpt.com\/pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}