Desire
Stuart Evans added 2mo
Noam Chomsky - What We Really Want
youtube.comSamarth Bansal added 1y
1. advertising induced wants. marketers realized they were not able to reach children, so advertising introduced nagging behavior to get their parents buy them stuff. but material things are not core to human nature.
2. people crave dignity and self-worth of doing something significant. Jonathan Rose has studied the reading habits of the British working class in the late 19th century. they were better educated than than the aristocrats. many efforts made to drive this out of people.
3. the natural thing for humans is to want to be independent and creative. mean maybe you work on a you know the fixing up old cars in your garage in the weekend instead of sitting in the watching television. you want to do something that's significant, that's worthwhile — maybe even if it's a ugly horrible job like going to coal mines instead of taking a government handout because people want dignity and a sense of self-worth and a sense of creating and doing something important. that's what we are.
4. huge part of the economy is devoted to trying to drive these things out of people's heads to make you think that all you want is more commodities so you should go shopping instead of reading/
5. wage labor is not very different from slavery.
6. market economy is supposed to be based on informed consumers making rational choices. but that'd if there was an ad it would be an announcement by
say Ford Motor Company here are the characteristics of the cars I think that's nice,here's what consumer review says about them—that would create informed consumers making rational choices. but it's not what you see. there are huge efforts to try to create uninformed consumers making irrational choices to undermine market economies and turn people into people who believe that what they want is to sit on a couch and watch television.
The idea of appearing to do something - you get the same level of satisfaction if you know that someone believes you’re accomplishing something as you do from actually accomplishing something and so it’s easy to get trapped in that loop and so you never get there because you’re too busy sharing that you’re getting somewhere instead of actually doin... See more
Erikc Perez-Perez added 1y
What is your relationship to objects and their connection with desire?
lili added 1y
What impresses you? Why? Money? Cars? Fitness? Abilities? Intelligence? Influence? I often find myself feeling impressed by something and desiring it, and have worked to build in a self check on this - why am I feeling this? Is it an authentic feeling I should embrace and nurse - inspiration? Or is it a feeling instilled by consumerism that I shoul... See more
Erikc Perez-Perez added 1y
Most of all: know where your desires came from. Your desires have a history. You can’t know what a ‘true’ or ‘authentic’ desire is unless you understand where it came from – and that involves diving deep into your past, understanding how you have evolved as a person, and seeing which desires have been with you for a long time and which ones have co... See more
Aeon • How to Know What You Really Want | Psyche Guides
Stuart Evans added 1y
To gain more control over your desires, figure out what your particular version of the Michelin Guide looks like. It might not involve stars at all, but the approval of specific people or the expectations of your friends or family; or the awkwardness of sharing with others that you have always wanted to do something that not many people would under... See more
Aeon • How to Know What You Really Want | Psyche Guides
Stuart Evans added 1y
Supritha S added 2y
Desire (as opposed to need) is an intellectual appetite for things that you perceive to be good, but that you have no physical, instinctual basis for wanting – and that’s true whether those things are actually good or not.
Aeon • How to Know What You Really Want | Psyche Guides
Stuart Evans added 1y
So are there ‘authentic’ desires? One of the roots of the word authentic is ‘author’. Are any of us authors of our own desires? Yes, we can be. You might not be the sole author of your desires, but you can certainly take ownership and put your mark of authorship on them through your creative freedom.
Aeon • How to Know What You Really Want | Psyche Guides
Stuart Evans added 1y