I always wanted to write a book about “snake oil”. I.E. Profitable practices based on misinformation, or in general profitable practices which only benefit one party without crossing a certain threshold of parasitism through force (i.e slavery)
Although the dangerous thought now occurs to me that perhaps people selling weight loss cures have their own form of enslavement in play...
I cannot post yet, not enough karma. Although I suppose in principle the gist goes that a donkey led by the carrot instead of the stick is still a beast of burden.
A lot of consumer goods, especially the day time TV variety add no significant marginal benefit but still are marketed in a way that is exceptionally compelling—I believe that certain people barely have a rational choice to buy the product, its just that attractive. Especially toys. The systems are so well established to make people want things that it seems as if those systems are sometimes the entire value proposition.
Or in a more abstract sense, the way in which car companies have successfully convinced us that “badges” mean anything. I know people who are making big decisions based on something which seems to occupy the same head space as religion in terms of the way it compels through belief, and reinforces through society.
It sounds a bit too stereotypically anti-corporate, but I’m an enthusiastic business student and these things still seem worrisome. The first case provides no value and is straight up snake oil sometimes, and the second case Is the bad kind of value, the one created by pure inescapable and unspoken agreement.
I’ll admit this is nothing like being compelled by arms into hard labour, and is not an amazingly well thought out opinion. But it’s something.
Lent you 10 points (will take back when you post, as this messes up the karma system). I’ve gotten suckered by that rather often, so I’m interested in the mechanisms. (Though I’m atypical—I suspect wanting to look normal until the fast-talking salesjerk shuts up and goes away forever isn’t a normal drive.) I’m also interested in the limits of consent.
Mm. I’m afraid I still don’t have the karma and not able to write at the moment (sleep deprived). However I’m all for expanding the idea, and will calenderise a date within the week to sit down for a write up. Take the points back, I suppose I’ll PM you if this goes further.
You currently have 22, last time I checked the threshold for posts in Main was 20.
By “lent” I mean I upvoted all your comments, including those I normally wouldn’t. I’ll leave it as such for a week then remove those extra upvotes. Godspeed re: writing.
Edit: ’sbeen over a week, so took points back. You still have enough karma for a post in Main.
Upvoted, seems interesting enough. I’m currently trying to figure out how much of the entertainment I consume is exploitative and/or addictive with little benefit, especially with regards to TV and ‘funny’ websites, so a discussion on that might be useful.
I’m trying to work up a heuristic for dealing with this. For instance: if 2 minutes after consuming this product there is no benefit ,I mean ZERO benefit, avoid it. Like buying a soft drink over water—second I finish the can, I’ll probably forget I ever had the the thing and my body is worse off. Same for most sitcoms in my opinion.
Probably worth noting it gets messy easily. I know I should avoid video games for long term goals, but frankly I savour some victories for a while If the challenge was decent and it makes me happier for some time. But the problem here is I generally won’t know if the game was worth it until well after i’ve committed time and effort.
I always wanted to write a book about “snake oil”. I.E. Profitable practices based on misinformation, or in general profitable practices which only benefit one party without crossing a certain threshold of parasitism through force (i.e slavery)
Although the dangerous thought now occurs to me that perhaps people selling weight loss cures have their own form of enslavement in play...
10 karma points if you post about it.
I cannot post yet, not enough karma. Although I suppose in principle the gist goes that a donkey led by the carrot instead of the stick is still a beast of burden.
A lot of consumer goods, especially the day time TV variety add no significant marginal benefit but still are marketed in a way that is exceptionally compelling—I believe that certain people barely have a rational choice to buy the product, its just that attractive. Especially toys. The systems are so well established to make people want things that it seems as if those systems are sometimes the entire value proposition.
Or in a more abstract sense, the way in which car companies have successfully convinced us that “badges” mean anything. I know people who are making big decisions based on something which seems to occupy the same head space as religion in terms of the way it compels through belief, and reinforces through society.
It sounds a bit too stereotypically anti-corporate, but I’m an enthusiastic business student and these things still seem worrisome. The first case provides no value and is straight up snake oil sometimes, and the second case Is the bad kind of value, the one created by pure inescapable and unspoken agreement.
I’ll admit this is nothing like being compelled by arms into hard labour, and is not an amazingly well thought out opinion. But it’s something.
Lent you 10 points (will take back when you post, as this messes up the karma system). I’ve gotten suckered by that rather often, so I’m interested in the mechanisms. (Though I’m atypical—I suspect wanting to look normal until the fast-talking salesjerk shuts up and goes away forever isn’t a normal drive.) I’m also interested in the limits of consent.
Mm. I’m afraid I still don’t have the karma and not able to write at the moment (sleep deprived). However I’m all for expanding the idea, and will calenderise a date within the week to sit down for a write up. Take the points back, I suppose I’ll PM you if this goes further.
I’ll remeber that limits of consent phrase...
Wait, you can “lend” karma?
You currently have 22, last time I checked the threshold for posts in Main was 20.
By “lent” I mean I upvoted all your comments, including those I normally wouldn’t. I’ll leave it as such for a week then remove those extra upvotes. Godspeed re: writing.
Edit: ’sbeen over a week, so took points back. You still have enough karma for a post in Main.
Upvoted, seems interesting enough. I’m currently trying to figure out how much of the entertainment I consume is exploitative and/or addictive with little benefit, especially with regards to TV and ‘funny’ websites, so a discussion on that might be useful.
I’m trying to work up a heuristic for dealing with this. For instance: if 2 minutes after consuming this product there is no benefit ,I mean ZERO benefit, avoid it. Like buying a soft drink over water—second I finish the can, I’ll probably forget I ever had the the thing and my body is worse off. Same for most sitcoms in my opinion.
Probably worth noting it gets messy easily. I know I should avoid video games for long term goals, but frankly I savour some victories for a while If the challenge was decent and it makes me happier for some time. But the problem here is I generally won’t know if the game was worth it until well after i’ve committed time and effort.