So doing some job hunting has got me to thinking about how much our society is driven by products and consumption. There are jobs selling products. There are jobs selling products and services that help other people sell products. There are jobs providing support for the products and services that exist entirely to help other people promote other products and services. It's a giant web of products and services and support networks. Kind of ridiculous.
I do realize that certain products and services really are necessary. People will always be doing a number of things: Eating, using shelter, using transportation, desiring entertainment of some sort, and educating. Each of these categories can in turn cover an extensive number of other activities.
Eating covers farming, food manufacturing, grocery stores, restaurants, catering, and personal kitchen needs. Farming requires having land, equipment, and storage facilities. Food manufacturing requires buildings, equipment, and specialized structures for processing. Grocery stores need things like shelves, carts, counters, computing devices, refrigeration, cleaning supplies, packaging supplies, and so on. Restaurants need utensils such as pots, pans, knives, dishes etc., appliances such as refrigerators, freezers, ovens, stovetops, burners, boilers, deep fryers, etc. They also need furniture to accommodate guests. Catering is similar but also needs containers, portable heating/cooling devices, and transportation. Personal kitchen needs involve appliances, utensils, tables/counters and cleaning supplies.
I was going to give some examples for the other "things that humans will always be doing" but you get the point. Assuming a moderate standard of living allowing access to running water, electricity, and/or natural gas, the simple life element "eating" coves a huge variety of products and possible services.
What gets me though is the sheer ocean of products and services out there that have very little to do with any basic human need, physical or psychological. Communication devices. Entertainment devices, including music, video, and gaming. Millions of programs for computers, doing millions of different things. It's overwhelming just trying to think of a basic list.
And yet, we just keep making more. And more. And more. We have them in red, we have them in blue. We have them with waterproof cases, we have them with bluetooth, we have them with faster processing, we have them with a gazillion features that you'll never use, or with new ways to browse the internet, or new ways to change their color scheme or appearance. When will it ever end? When will people be satisfied with having their needs met and a few things to spice up life a little?
I think we know the answer to that question. People will never be satisfied.
In some ways a lack of satisfaction has been the most significant thing in our existence, producing ideas and inventions that have changed the world for the better. We now have extremely advanced medical knowledge and practices. Babies aren't dying days after their birth. Heart attacks are seldom lethal. People who have failing organs can get transplants. People who have lost limbs can get bionic replacements that provide basic limb functionality.
We can discover amazing things about our world and the universe around us. We've been able to compute massive, unimaginable numbers and test extreme theories using computer models. We can analyze and process mountains of data about people and our environment. Don't get me wrong, our insatiability has proven to be one of our greatest assets.
I think insatiability could also be shown as one of our biggest disadvantages. People aren't just insatiable about knowledge and progress, they're insatiable when it comes to - well, just about everything. Food. Entertainment. Games. Socializing. Drugs. Sex. Power. Money. Tools. Cars. Possessions. Houses. Alcohol. Music. Sports. Winning. Achieving.
Having Stuff.
Stuff. My desk is covered with it. Sunglasses. Tape. Lip Balm. Floss. Business cards. A lamp. A mouse. A keyboard. A USB flash drive. Paper. Envelopes. Sticky notes. A timer.
Why do we need so many things?
When it comes down to it, we don't. But we have an entire economy built on the idea that we do.
Sometimes I wonder if we've really made that much progress. Are most people really very "enlightened"? Can the average person say that, because of the advances of modern civilization, on a daily basis they are able to know and understand more about themselves, other people, the universe they live in, and the principles that run it?
And then I stop wondering because somebody posted a cool video on facebook about the latest iPad app. Pretty cool. Civilization is awesome.
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