the commoditization of thought

When did thought become an arduous task for which we demand remuneration? I’m shocked how often I hear people complain “I don’t want to think about that while I’m on vacation”, or even more bluntly “You’d have to pay met to think about that!” While there is a tendency toward escapism in American society I think it is more than a simple wish to avoid confrontation with our more complex problems: I hear these exclamations from people who I know have the capability and will to devote critical thought to an issue at hand. Instead we have begun to equate thought with work. Thinking is something to be done only in the office from 9-5. Once off the clock, we have no obligation to apply our brain to anything other than the immediate task. This phenomenon can be clearly observed in the direction taken by product and technological development, and also in how we spend our free time.
Any new product that dramatically reduces the amount of work (physical or mental) to produce a (very roughly) comparable product is immediately hailed as a technological breakthrough and all devices utilizing the old method are deemed impractical or obsolete. This process is dramatic and ongoing, and often progresses “forward” regardless of the great sacrifices made to quality and to the pleasure gained from the ritual of manual labor and the mastery of process. Some would convey me as a Luddite for voicing these opinions, but I’m hardly anti-technology (obviously I’m writing this on a computer, and hey, refrigeration isn’t all bad either.) I’m simply frustrated that the merit of every new product or technology is based entirely on whether it allows the user to think and interact less than they had to with its predecessor, rather than on improvements in quality, efficacy, satisfaction, etc. Currently this rubric of judgment is exercised only by those viewed as eccentric enthusiasts, and as an exception to the general rule.
Despite the increasing proliferation of the internet, television watching is at an all-time high with the average American household watching 4.5 hours every day ( http://www.buzzle.com/articles/tv-watching-reclaim-family-time.html ) . This is especially disturbing considering I’ve noticed an increasing trend among my peers to get rid of their televisions or minimize their viewing time: someone is watching an awful lot of TV. What ever happened to reverie? The ability to engage in critical thought is one of the traits that most distinguishes humans from other animals. We should be basking in our ability to think, not avoiding it as a painful chore.
Our reluctance to think for recreation is a disturbing development, but I wonder if we shouldn’t have expected it with the increasingly cerebral nature of American jobs. With the majority of consumer goods being produced overseas we have become a nation of architects, engineers, lawyers, researchers, designers, consultants, marketers, programmers and other professionals for whom work is synonymous with thought. Among other problems this has made it more and more difficult to leave work in the work place, as every project is still occupying our head. Instead of attempting to distract our mind, we would be better served to fill it with something of our own choice. We just need to remember that, though work is thought, thought is not necessarily work.

For further disturbing reading on television see Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television by Jerry Mander and The Assault on Reason by Al Gore. This article was probably partially inspired by "Is Google Making Us Stoopid?" from The Atlantic (full text: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google ). Wallpaper also had a piece about reasons to get a job involving manual labor, but of course I can't find the issue now.

Welcome To San Diego

You must select ONE (1) of the following options. Remember to fill in the circle, completely, with a No. 2 or HB pencil. DO NOT use your tattoo iron.

-hat wearing hipster

-neo-hippie

-sweetbro

-shiny-shirted date rapist

-surfer

-flatbiller

-greaser

-wangsta

on greed

this will sound idealistic, redundant and probably drunk. it seems like the most basic thing we could do to improve society as a whole is to give up greed. the rich and the poor seem to be equally oppressed by this obsession with money: and it is money, not simple material wealth. at some point it seems as if we lost track of what money can be exchanged for and endowed it with an inherent value. current zimbabwe is an excellent example of why being a billionaire doesn't mean shit. i can't fault anyone for wanting to have a more relaxed, more fulfilling, more secure lifestyle: beneficial or not these will always be human desires. money can enable all of these things, but not by itself. meanwhile it has created a society obsessed with the bottom line and willing to sacrifice any principle for the sake of profit. certainly i can appreciate the value of maintaining a productive economy, but it's greed itself that tends to create the biggest problems and i'm sick of the poor paying for the mistakes of the rich. every saavy business man is an expert at diffusing the cost of his mistakes upon the masses (in large part this probably defines a "saavy business man"), but the simple fact that it is common doesn't mean that it is acceptable.

i'm still organizing my thoughts on this subject, but expect more of the same. next week: the commoditization of thought.

when did i become such a light-weight?

anvil nautical nutbrown (cask.) green flash double stout. sierra nevada torpedo ipa. let's party.

faulkner

i just finished 'the sound and the fury' and i'm forced to admit that it didn't make much of an impression. i realize he's supposed to be the preeminent american author of the first half of the 20th century, but i was generally bored with the plot and completely underwhelmed by the writing. the stream-of-consciousness style feels as if it is used for its own sake rather than because it is an effective way of conveying the story. i think joyce uses this style much more naturally and poetically, and faulkner feels like a poor imitation. too often it seems he is trying only to obscure his content, rather than enhance it.

am i missing something? can someone shed some light on this book for me? i'll certainly give him another try eventually, but i'm disappointed by my first experience.

i've figured out, finally, one of the primary reasons why i feel so uncomfortable when travelling in san diego, by foot, bicycle or car, and it has to do with the way drivers come to a stop: you're approaching a familiar intersection with no one in front of you. the light is red, but, knowing the signal or being able to see the signal for cross traffic you feel pretty confident that by the time you reach the intersection it will have turned green, so you try to maintain as much speed as possible in order to avoid coming to a stop and then accelerating again immediately. every once in a while you get it wrong; you've misjudged or misremembered the signal cycle or it has been changed or there is some other extenuating circumstance. in this situation you end up making a rather hasty stop: not slamming on the brakes, but certainly a more rapid halt than you'd make with your grandmother in the back seat. you're wondering if you'll be able to stop by the stop-line and hoping your tires won't squeal, but there is no imminent danger.

there is a portion of san diego drivers (say 25%?) who make this sort of stop EVERY TIME they arrest their car (or truck.) it's as if they expect every red light, every traffic back up, every stop sign to be on the verge of turning green. in addition to faster deterioration of brake pads and worse fuel economy, it puts me on edge because you're never sure if they've actually seen that there's a reason to stop, or if they're about to rear-end you or run you down in the cross walk. i find it hard to imagine there's any benefit to driving this way: perhaps in a situation where seconds literally counted you might reach your destination a few moments earlier by maintaining a higher average speed and triggering smart lights sooner, but this hardly seems worth it.

i swear this site will not be entirely devoted to posts on the poor driving habits of san diegans (though they are an endless source of grief.)