Theories

Occasionally I am busy. The past month was one of those times. The next few weeks appear not to be. I also occasionally come up with theories, which are often rejected by the first rational thought that comes into my head, but some make it through this first test.

One theory:
Through technology, birth control, planned families, but most of all the transition from a manual labor based system of economics, we have escaped the Malthusian trap of food production. We now find ourselves trapped in a Malthusian trap of happiness. As technology increases, what got us out of the food trap, so does our ability to get stuff, or "cargo" as Jared Diamond used, and as I will for this rant. Our ability to get "cargo" increases linearly. Our ability to want "cargo" increases exponentially. Therefore, our happiness can increase in the short run as we are exposed to new cargo. In the long run, however, we return to our unhappy complacency with only an XBox 360 and seven thousand tamagachis lying around our floors.

Why did this trap just recently occur? There may be a deeper reason, but I dislike advertising, so I will set it up as a strawman, on which I will quickly hate. With the fall of finance, advertising is the new heart of capitalism. An exaggeration, but it gets at the point that money is made through sale, and sale is made through demand. Current demand is already taken up, and as we unlock the clues of the human mind, advertising is the first to abuse such knowledge. Advertising takes advantage of the asymetries in information and our trust in capitalism to coax us to new cargo. Advertising does not capitalize on current demand, because that is already capitalized on. Advertising creates demand! This demand was unecessary, perhaps even inconceivable before it was created, and like Plato's monster of a ruler who was never satisfied with his new destructive ways, we now demand even more, cooler, cargo! We never have enough time to enjoy our current cargo, because the new iPod is slightly smaller, and has a sweet new touchpad feature!
We have indeed fallen into a Malthusian trap of happiness.

One thought:
A former PPEer told me there is a line somewhere in the bible that says the end of days is when all people start speaking the same language. I have never verified that this quote exists, but I like to think that the end of days is equivalent to global warming, and the language phenomenon to globalization.

A closing link:
I couldn't help but notice that so few of us were worried about privacy when it came up in class. Used to liberal support from the rowdy class, this struck me as a surprise. Please read for just one example of why privacy is on the run.