How far can we go. This question pretty much sums up all of human emotions. It's the disease, and the medicine. To want more is to create more. To want is to create. Some people argue all wants need to be met at the exact moment they are discovered. In some cases to manufacture the discovery.
I've had many great desires in my life, and I'm surely glad they were not all met. To figure out the distance between those two thoughts is to win the spoils. If it's too short you've become a commodity bound to making a set percentage of the total revenue year over year until the end of time or mono cropping has a complete failure at which point the value you hold will not be relevant as society collapses into anteater savagery.
Incentives! To find out how often a person must see something before they purchase it is to manufacture money. Thus you can charge a bit more, but the ebbs and flows are a bit less predictable. Somewhere along this line people found out if you're really thirsty you can be easily influenced. Thus you end up paying for a cola, an objectively worse product than water and more expensive. This is diabolically bad. You have manufactured a preference over the commodity, and therefore started to starve it off its resources and status.
This trend continues to play out as someone realizes artisan water can create a brand value, then sparkling, and then sparkling with a little sugar and soon you're back to coke. The degradation of the commodity continues every time. These are themes that play out at every level everyday.
I love competition as much as the next guy, but to avoid competition is to win without scars. The American worker later decided to print himself a bunch of money because the competition was much steeper than he had imagined. He took a loan from the guy he hired. Now, I don't think anyone individually would make this set of decisions. However, scale makes them super good for the world of progress. You can make all the essential things real cheap real fast, and only work on the ridiculous goals humanity may manifest at that time.
8 billion is a lot, just not to google.
To amass debts one cannot pay is to burden those who are yet to be born. We've lost our hope for the next model T, but gained our temporary happiness in being understood I suppose.
Reflections
How far can we go? That question contains everything - disease and medicine, desire and restraint, progress and destruction. To want is to create. But what happens when all wants must be met immediately? When some are manufactured before you even know you have them?
Follow the cola example: You're thirsty. Someone influences you to pay for cola - objectively worse than water, and more expensive. A manufactured preference destroying the commodity. Then artisan water creates brand value. Then sparkling. Then sparkling with sugar. You're back to coke. The degradation of the essential continues at every level.
This plays out everywhere, everyday. People found out if you're really thirsty you can be easily influenced. They learned to find out how often you must see something before you purchase it - manufacturing money through manufactured desire. The distance between wanting something and getting it shrinks. Too short and you become a commodity. Too long and... what? You maintain agency?
Competition breeds innovation, yes. But avoiding competition is winning without scars. The American worker printed money when competition got steep. Took a loan from the guy he hired. No individual would make these decisions. But scale makes them good for progress. You can make essentials cheap and fast, focus on ridiculous goals.
8 billion is a lot. Just not to Google.
To amass debts you cannot pay is to burden those not yet born. We lost hope for the next Model T - that genuine leap forward in accessible value. But we gained temporary happiness in being understood. Is that a fair trade? Understanding for innovation? Narrative for substance?