Ahri's unqualified thoughts #29

Random articles, quotes, videos, musings. Easy to consume content: 1 quote, 1 tweet/storm and 1 article/video.

In today's update, we're featuring a tweetstorm discussing the DeFi protocol Butterfly/Redacted. Additionally, we're sharing an insightful piece on the influence of individualism on the economy.

1 quote

“Demand not that events should happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well" Epitectus.

1 tweet/storm

In this series of tweets, Reflexivity Research sheds light on the array of products that Redacted Cartel has been quietly developing over the recent months. These offerings span from their pre-existing products such as Hidden Hand to newer additions like LSD and a stablecoin named DINERO. The initial two tweets establish the context and framework nicely for the entire thread:

1 article/video

In this fantastic piece/video,

kyla scanlon

skillfully delves into how individualism has transformed the economy. While I'm no economy expert and still on the learning curve, especially when it comes to macroeconomics, I found the content highly engaging and informative.

Some of the base materials used by Kyla are the documentary “Century of Self”, a 2002 documentary by Adam Curtis, and Life After Style a piece by Toby Shorin (His LinkedIn profile says: “I'm a writer, researcher, and independent consultant. I am a founder of Other Internet, a nonprofit research organization studying the psychological, political, and economic effects of digitalization”. Also, he is close to the Ethereum Foundation)

Here is an attempt at summarizing the piece, but I highly encourage you to read it, as usual:

• Exploring "The Century of the Self": A documentary called "The Century of the Self" delves into how companies use people's emotions to influence their buying behavior. This practice traces back to the ideas of Sigmund Freud, who understood human behavior deeply. Corporations learned how to tap into people's feelings to make them buy things unconsciously.

• People's Role in the Economy: People are like the engines that drive the economy forward. When they spend money on buying things, the economy gets bigger and stronger.

• Transition to Consumers: In the past, people were simply buyers. But as they started to buy more and more things, they earned the name "consumers." This shift happened when people became more active in their purchasing habits.

  While buying things is good for the economy, there are also some issues that come with it.

• Challenges of Excessive Buying: Buying too many things can harm the environment in various ways. Some products are designed to stop working quickly, which isn't great for sustainability. Additionally, having numerous versions of the same product, like an excess of spoon types (47, apparently), raises questions about whether we really need all of them.

• Impact on Identity and Consumption: Sometimes, individuals start defining themselves mainly based on what they buy. This can cause them to lose touch with their true selves and their inner identity. It's important to remember that a person is more than just the possessions they own.

TLDR: how emotions, often irrational, were strategically harnessed to transition from a "needs culture" to a "desires culture." This shift involved training consumers to desire new things even before they had fully exhausted the use of their existing possessions.

Now, I need to watch the documentary over the week-end :).