Comments on: If We All Stop Buying Stuff Will We Destroy the World?

By: Artie Whitefox

Artie Whitefox — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 17:19:41 +0000

Money is destroying the world. People are making this patent, and that patent, hoping to make a buck. People are getting whatever from the earth, putting a price on it. There are things with many different price tags on it. Those things would be greatly diminished had people be able to ask for the best of whatever. God gave to us the best of whatever. We are God’s children, needing to to that with each other. Money is making our recourses to run out at a rapid rate.

By: Nelomah

Nelomah — Sat, 04 Sep 2021 02:40:48 +0000

Glad to see I’m not the only one here past 2018 hahaha. The pandemic made it so much worse :(. I feel our grandparents lived in a time when luxury and even momentary happiness was hard to come by, so they equated work with happiness. But now that work creates so much more money, money is now the metric of happiness. I don’t know. It is sad like you say, how many people must trudge on to satisfy everyone else’s waste

By: Nelomah

Nelomah — Sat, 04 Sep 2021 02:38:04 +0000

There is a deep mentality that things equal happiness. And I assume that’s true.. to an extent. In a post scarcity world we can easily have the things we really want as long as they are in moderation! But the question is if the human mind naturally tends toward moderation, which I still can’t answer. I know society puts us in a position to say human desire is entirely infinite, but I think our goals are finite. I think we only want as far as we think we can reach.

Maybe this is why people in power become corrupt, they think they can reach further, and that perception pushes them to take more. I wish people would opt for sustainability! A simple awareness of the breadth of humanity! Although I loved this article @thehappyphilosopher, I wish you included what you think would occur if everyone earned and saved their money. This is my original question, is saving all my money. that I worked oh so hard for, sustainable (in a widespread sense)?

Who knows.. but I’ll be damned if I give someone work to do that they didn’t have to do!

By: Seb

Seb — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 23:26:33 +0000

Very interesting read.
I’m totally into it. And I thought about this for years. Previous generations like our grand parents didn’t buy unacessarly stuff. It’s pretty new and it makes me very sad. The pandemic might slow down this frenetic consumption. Let’s see.

By: Robert Howes

Robert Howes — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 20:38:07 +0000

In reply to hatton1. I have not bought any clothes (new or old) since 1978. I jus wear what others throw away or give me.

By: Jason C

Jason C — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 13:14:55 +0000

Thanks for another great post. I enjoy how you reason through the arguments. I’ve read a few other “why if X happens, Y won’t really cause the collapse of society” and this is one of the better treatments. Several years ago I was sucked into the prepper world a little bit, but soon realized how ridiculous it was. Around 2016 I stopped consuming any mainstream media as it was all the same kind of doomsday “if Obama/Trump/Clinton does this the world as we know it will be no more”. I saw how that instilled a great deal of fear in my friends and relatives. Since then I’ve tried to practice a little more stoicism.

I liked your points about the economy being antifragile (I’m currently reading the book of the same title) and our ability to adapt. Back in college many moons ago, in an environmental tech course, our teacher pointed out how technology, in the form of the catalytic converter, was a development that reduced how much fuel cars used, thereby ruining the projections and predictions of the world running out of oil from the 70’s and 80’s. Those who make the predictions have no idea how the creators and inventors will come up with ways to make those predictions fail to come to pass.

I’m enjoying my life where happiness is not derived from things. It’s hard sometimes. Today, for example, is Thanksgiving. I looked through some Black Friday sale fliers. There are many things that I’d love to have and are at prices that I might consider paying for them. My 45 years of experience and the rational side of me knows that they won’t make me happy for long (I’ll get the temporary bump), but then my overall happiness will come back to more or less the same level (thanks for that article too). Knowing that doesn’t necessarily make it easier to stop drooling over the newest wireless speakers, Amazon toys, or tools. Fortunately, successful practice not buying things does make it a little easier the next time.

Happy Thanksgiving!

By: Andrea2001

Andrea2001 — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 08:38:38 +0000

I would disagree with the basic premise here, ‘if you stop buying x you will buy y. It just isn’t true. Consumerism is based on one simple principle, the reason to get out of bed in a morning principle. Humans only do what they need to to get what they want. So if they don’t want x…they just have another 30mins in bed. Work done=less. Now this is a metaphor obviously but it illustrates the point that work done is proportional to needs. Causes of the 1929 Wall street crash and the great Depression were highly linked to consumer apathy. When people stop buying stuff…it all comes tumbling down.

By: Eric

Eric — Sun, 18 Feb 2018 18:04:10 +0000

I have an offshoot opinion. For instance, in the stone age, only basic necessities were needed for survival. As humans progressed through time, new and better methods were discovered through collaboration of human sharing of knowlege. Fast forward to today and the one variable that does not change is time. It took something like 50,000 years to get to now and more than 10 times the current population of people have already lived and died before us (100 billion people). The industrial age was less than 200 years ago but humans have discovered more in this time period that all of human history before that. I agree it takes time for change. My ultimate belief, which follows the theme of your blog is that owning a bunch of shit does, at a root level, does not make anyone happier, but does the complete opposite. People need other people, not things. I also believe people ignore the reality of their monotonous and perceived meaningless lives as a way to cope as our social/economic way of thinking is headed for a collision course with the true nature of reality.

By: t - Career Crisis Accountant

t - Career Crisis Accountant — Sun, 11 Feb 2018 14:55:41 +0000

I love the people who say that if everyone changed to be more minimalist, our investments would tank and the world wouldn’t work. As you stated above, when has the world (or lets even think about something smaller like our families) all agreed on some big lifestyle change? It is hard to change group think. While I believe the decision to consume less is a better life, there is no way this thinking will take hold in a large fashion during our lifetime.

By: TheHappyPhilosopher

TheHappyPhilosopher — Sat, 10 Feb 2018 17:56:14 +0000

In reply to Roberto Sans. Awesome!