This is a wonderful discussion! Having grown up in the UK, milk tastes very different hence the better tasting chocolate. Its not only the process but it stems from the grass the cows feed on to produce the milk. Jersey & Guernsey cow milk is the richest. Thank you so much for a thought provoking listen this morning ❤
Great discussion! It makes me wonder if our desire to reconnect with certain feelings is an attempt to reconnect with the magical, ancestral wisdom that modernity has trampled and kicked to the curb. Re-enchantment will take the form that it needs to; some of that is unhealthy or destructive (see also cuckoo conspiracy theories and a cult that worships an orange-haired grifter...).
It seems like this podcast will blow up my brain, so I'm going to wait until the weekend to listen to it.
The column, though, is very thought-provoking. The very first thing I thought of re: "things" and consumption of things translating to emotion or feelings, was the iPhone. From the very beginning, I think Steve Jobs understood exactly what is being said here. Go to YouTube and look at any iPhone commercial through about 2012, and you'll see a panning camera, smoothly and gracefully sliding over the lines of the device, in a white void. Add to that, Jonny Ive's narration, a "rich" British voice, speaking in tones usually reserved for the inside of a cathedral, and suddenly you're hooked in to the iPhone and by extension, the Apple brand.
I WAS an Apple fanboy until about 2012. After Jobs died in 2010, things began to slip. Those that were still all-in on the previous iteration of iPhone marketing continued on, but it was never the same for me. Suddenly, with Jobs gone, things didn't "just work" like they used to. I realized more and more that iPhone was trapped in a walled garden of apps, and I'd better get used to "liking" what was on the screen and how it was presented because short of "jailbreaking" the phone, you were limited to what you could do to customize it. App developers were also limited to what THEY could do on the phone. The phone had always been Apple's phone, but Jobs WILLED it to seem like it was yours, and that you really, really wanted it because of the way it made you FEEL. They became a trillion-dollar company because of it, although after he died.
Apple's biggest magic trick was Steve Jobs. I'm not going to expound on what a genius he was because I don't really believe that. He was a marketing guru, if you will, that sold feelings in products. When he died, the REAL Apple all but died with him. Gradually, I began to pull away from Apple products because they DIDN'T "just work" anymore. Operating systems were released that were buggy. iPhones were released that were buggy. My left brain took over, and I'm back to Windows, which isn't really as buggy as it used to be (!), and Android, because I can put a big-ass clock on my home screen, along with the weather, and my whole screen can be the conditions outside, including the moon phase, if I want to! It's the little things.... that make life livable.
Looking forward to the podcast and the 5/8. Have a great break, Greg!
Since 55% of Americans cannot read above 6th grade level, it is highly unlikely these people are doing the kind of reflective thinking that leads to the support of society. They are left with only only one thing: economy. And economy for all is based on expansionism not sustainability, as even the most cursory perusal of CNBC shows. As a result, the whole system is a feedback loop of spend, want, spend, want, spend.
For me, society gave way to economy visibly and viscerally in our village in the 90's. We had had everything I needed (in order of basic needs: little grocery store, little book store, little library, little school, little hardware, little donut shop, little coffee shop, little restaurant, little gas station, little massage therapist spa, little drug store, little hair salon, little recycling center, little realtor's office, little attorney's office, little doctor's office, little dentist office, little CPA's office, little post office, little Little League field, little park, little senior center, little garden shop, little crosscountry ski trail, little beach, little church, little quilting shop, little barber shop, little golf course, little hotel, and regular sized stop signs. Idyllic. Then 12 miles away, Rite Aide came in. Then Walgreens directly across the street from it. Next Ace Hardware opened as did Home Depot, and... First to close in our village was the drug store, then the hardware, then the ... Our society began to feel fragmented and rushed and impersonal, from driving the extra 12 miles, stopping at new stoplights, missing the morning chat in the gas station by the coffee pot. Money won.
Thanks for this excellent and thought-provoking column, Greg. I think I'm several years your senior, as my "time," you could say, started in the mid-seventies. So it wasn't long before the "change" happened; and it was subliminal, I would say. By 1980, I was just starting to gain footing as a member of the work force. I do remember for sure the goal was to make money. Outside forces kept hammering away at it. Money was the very definition of success, with all the material things that came with it. It was many years before I realized there was another value more important that was worth pursuing.
Writing this now sparked a memory: Taking a break with a friend in Rock Creek Park one day, we were sitting on the ground listening to the sound of the creek that winds its way around this beautiful oasis adjacent to Washington, D.C. Someone came up to me asking if I knew what time it was. I replied, "No, I don't. Isn't that terrific?"
Wildly lucky, it was less than 20 years later that I was able to find that power of feeling.
I was wondering what happened to that warm, creamy first Cadbury chocolate bar bite..those bastards. As someone who grew up in the 60’s & 70’s w great radio, vinyl, books, musical instruments, bike riding, playing outside till dark, dancing, singing, painting & poetry I can detach from online presence but it is getting harder. (As a young adult, we had cheap rent but also had to navigate parent’s divorces, drugs, sexual exploitation & fear of AIDS so, not all was idyllic in yee old yesteryear). It’s difficult for the children of today. Living in a city 80% African American & more than half of that living in poverty I feel sorry for the obese child thrown into the shopping basket as she remains fixated to her iphone & her mother shops for salt & fat laden foods, & it’s now too hot for these kids to even play outside. It’s affluent white children too, who’ve been kidnapped by their screens & taken to a solitary unreality. Books & learning a musical instrument don’t seem have much of a chance. We still have free will, getting out into Nature & turning off the computers for a few hours everyday helps. I hope parents can encourage that.
Excellent piece! The metaphors have my brain (left & right hemis) working on overtime.
This is a wonderful discussion! Having grown up in the UK, milk tastes very different hence the better tasting chocolate. Its not only the process but it stems from the grass the cows feed on to produce the milk. Jersey & Guernsey cow milk is the richest. Thank you so much for a thought provoking listen this morning ❤
Great discussion! It makes me wonder if our desire to reconnect with certain feelings is an attempt to reconnect with the magical, ancestral wisdom that modernity has trampled and kicked to the curb. Re-enchantment will take the form that it needs to; some of that is unhealthy or destructive (see also cuckoo conspiracy theories and a cult that worships an orange-haired grifter...).
It seems like this podcast will blow up my brain, so I'm going to wait until the weekend to listen to it.
The column, though, is very thought-provoking. The very first thing I thought of re: "things" and consumption of things translating to emotion or feelings, was the iPhone. From the very beginning, I think Steve Jobs understood exactly what is being said here. Go to YouTube and look at any iPhone commercial through about 2012, and you'll see a panning camera, smoothly and gracefully sliding over the lines of the device, in a white void. Add to that, Jonny Ive's narration, a "rich" British voice, speaking in tones usually reserved for the inside of a cathedral, and suddenly you're hooked in to the iPhone and by extension, the Apple brand.
I WAS an Apple fanboy until about 2012. After Jobs died in 2010, things began to slip. Those that were still all-in on the previous iteration of iPhone marketing continued on, but it was never the same for me. Suddenly, with Jobs gone, things didn't "just work" like they used to. I realized more and more that iPhone was trapped in a walled garden of apps, and I'd better get used to "liking" what was on the screen and how it was presented because short of "jailbreaking" the phone, you were limited to what you could do to customize it. App developers were also limited to what THEY could do on the phone. The phone had always been Apple's phone, but Jobs WILLED it to seem like it was yours, and that you really, really wanted it because of the way it made you FEEL. They became a trillion-dollar company because of it, although after he died.
Apple's biggest magic trick was Steve Jobs. I'm not going to expound on what a genius he was because I don't really believe that. He was a marketing guru, if you will, that sold feelings in products. When he died, the REAL Apple all but died with him. Gradually, I began to pull away from Apple products because they DIDN'T "just work" anymore. Operating systems were released that were buggy. iPhones were released that were buggy. My left brain took over, and I'm back to Windows, which isn't really as buggy as it used to be (!), and Android, because I can put a big-ass clock on my home screen, along with the weather, and my whole screen can be the conditions outside, including the moon phase, if I want to! It's the little things.... that make life livable.
Looking forward to the podcast and the 5/8. Have a great break, Greg!
Since 55% of Americans cannot read above 6th grade level, it is highly unlikely these people are doing the kind of reflective thinking that leads to the support of society. They are left with only only one thing: economy. And economy for all is based on expansionism not sustainability, as even the most cursory perusal of CNBC shows. As a result, the whole system is a feedback loop of spend, want, spend, want, spend.
WOW!!! Am I allowed to say you both have blown my minds?
For me, society gave way to economy visibly and viscerally in our village in the 90's. We had had everything I needed (in order of basic needs: little grocery store, little book store, little library, little school, little hardware, little donut shop, little coffee shop, little restaurant, little gas station, little massage therapist spa, little drug store, little hair salon, little recycling center, little realtor's office, little attorney's office, little doctor's office, little dentist office, little CPA's office, little post office, little Little League field, little park, little senior center, little garden shop, little crosscountry ski trail, little beach, little church, little quilting shop, little barber shop, little golf course, little hotel, and regular sized stop signs. Idyllic. Then 12 miles away, Rite Aide came in. Then Walgreens directly across the street from it. Next Ace Hardware opened as did Home Depot, and... First to close in our village was the drug store, then the hardware, then the ... Our society began to feel fragmented and rushed and impersonal, from driving the extra 12 miles, stopping at new stoplights, missing the morning chat in the gas station by the coffee pot. Money won.
Thanks for this excellent and thought-provoking column, Greg. I think I'm several years your senior, as my "time," you could say, started in the mid-seventies. So it wasn't long before the "change" happened; and it was subliminal, I would say. By 1980, I was just starting to gain footing as a member of the work force. I do remember for sure the goal was to make money. Outside forces kept hammering away at it. Money was the very definition of success, with all the material things that came with it. It was many years before I realized there was another value more important that was worth pursuing.
Writing this now sparked a memory: Taking a break with a friend in Rock Creek Park one day, we were sitting on the ground listening to the sound of the creek that winds its way around this beautiful oasis adjacent to Washington, D.C. Someone came up to me asking if I knew what time it was. I replied, "No, I don't. Isn't that terrific?"
Wildly lucky, it was less than 20 years later that I was able to find that power of feeling.
Very informative.
Thank you
Enjoyed last night's Five/8 with you, LB and Noel Casler. You do a vital service for us...many thanks!
I was wondering what happened to that warm, creamy first Cadbury chocolate bar bite..those bastards. As someone who grew up in the 60’s & 70’s w great radio, vinyl, books, musical instruments, bike riding, playing outside till dark, dancing, singing, painting & poetry I can detach from online presence but it is getting harder. (As a young adult, we had cheap rent but also had to navigate parent’s divorces, drugs, sexual exploitation & fear of AIDS so, not all was idyllic in yee old yesteryear). It’s difficult for the children of today. Living in a city 80% African American & more than half of that living in poverty I feel sorry for the obese child thrown into the shopping basket as she remains fixated to her iphone & her mother shops for salt & fat laden foods, & it’s now too hot for these kids to even play outside. It’s affluent white children too, who’ve been kidnapped by their screens & taken to a solitary unreality. Books & learning a musical instrument don’t seem have much of a chance. We still have free will, getting out into Nature & turning off the computers for a few hours everyday helps. I hope parents can encourage that.