I think you get more of that in Texas and the southeast. It (by my observation—very much a stereotype) correlates with driving big trucks, eating big meals, liking steak dinners and soda and big desserts, obesity, not caring about the environment, and taking strong unwavering opinions on things. And with conservatism, but not exclusively.
I distinctly remember driving in my high school band director’s car once, maybe a decade ago, and he was blasting the AC at max when it maybe needed to be on the lowest setting, tops—it seemed to reflect a mindset that “I want to get cold NOW” when it’s hot, to the point of overreaction. Maybe a mindset that—if the sun is bright and on my face, I need a lot of cold air, even if the rest of me doesn’t need it? Or maybe, ‘it feels hot in the world so I want a lot of cold air’. Certainly there was no realization that it was excessive, and he didn’t seem bothered by the unnecessary use of resources. I’ve noticed this same mindset a lot ever since, and I still don’t understand it.
The optimal AC setting in terms of comfort is subjective. I don’t see any reason to speculate beyond the simple fact that he was hot. I don’t think anyone should care about “unnecessary uses of resources”- that’s why we have markets.
I don’t think anyone should care about “unnecessary uses of resources”- that’s why we have markets.
That would apply if there were no such things as subsidies or negative externalities—if all of the costs associated with cooling a room to a given temperature were always paid by the person who decided the temperature.
No, markets only work for services whose costs are high enough to participants to care and model their behavior accordingly. In my observation, specifically, these people behave this way for reasons other than their personal comfort, and the costs aren’t high enough (or they’re not aware that they’re high enough) to influence their behavior.
The ‘reason to speculate’ is that it’s interesting to talk about it. That’s all.
I think you get more of that in Texas and the southeast. It (by my observation—very much a stereotype) correlates with driving big trucks, eating big meals, liking steak dinners and soda and big desserts, obesity, not caring about the environment, and taking strong unwavering opinions on things. And with conservatism, but not exclusively.
I distinctly remember driving in my high school band director’s car once, maybe a decade ago, and he was blasting the AC at max when it maybe needed to be on the lowest setting, tops—it seemed to reflect a mindset that “I want to get cold NOW” when it’s hot, to the point of overreaction. Maybe a mindset that—if the sun is bright and on my face, I need a lot of cold air, even if the rest of me doesn’t need it? Or maybe, ‘it feels hot in the world so I want a lot of cold air’. Certainly there was no realization that it was excessive, and he didn’t seem bothered by the unnecessary use of resources. I’ve noticed this same mindset a lot ever since, and I still don’t understand it.
The optimal AC setting in terms of comfort is subjective. I don’t see any reason to speculate beyond the simple fact that he was hot. I don’t think anyone should care about “unnecessary uses of resources”- that’s why we have markets.
That would apply if there were no such things as subsidies or negative externalities—if all of the costs associated with cooling a room to a given temperature were always paid by the person who decided the temperature.
Well that’s why we have governments...
Yeah, but I don’t think they’re anywhere near reliable enough that no-one “should care about unnecessary uses of resources”...
No, markets only work for services whose costs are high enough to participants to care and model their behavior accordingly. In my observation, specifically, these people behave this way for reasons other than their personal comfort, and the costs aren’t high enough (or they’re not aware that they’re high enough) to influence their behavior.
The ‘reason to speculate’ is that it’s interesting to talk about it. That’s all.