January 2010
13 posts
Maker Society vs. Consumer Society
The maker society buys things in order to make things.
The consumer society makes things in order to buy things. In the end, because no one cares about what they make, everything becomes crap. We simply shuffle around crap. We over-consume and more crap must be made to meet demand.
The consumption bubble has burst. We are becoming a society of makers. In a maker society, less gets made but it is...
“Worldview and attachment always color perceptions. Ask people in the customer...”
– Seth Godin, in Linchpin
“This is a new revolution, and just as Marx and Smith wrote about the industrial...”
– Seth Godin
What Is Meaningful Work?
Note: this is a continuation of a previous thought I published in the Generation Y Michigan blog. You might want to read that, if you haven’t already, to gain some context.
In my guest essay on Gen Y Michigan, I argued that most of us really want to do meaningful work. We want to do work that matters. But it’s not clear exactly what makes work meaningful to us. Now, I want see if we...
The Suffocating Spirit
Have you ever met someone who is a spirit killer? They act like there is nothing new or wondrous or unknown. You tell them something exciting and they absorb none of it. They just act like you’re old news. They have a hardened shell, and it’s choking out their natural enthusiasm.
No matter how much I might learn someday, I never want to have a hardened spirit like that. I want to...
5 New Books I'm Looking Forward to Reading in 2010
1. Lynchpin by Seth Godin
This one should be arriving in the mail any day now. I scored an early release by donating $30 to the Acumen Fund, which is one of the most interesting promotions I’ve seen in awhile. The book itself is about how we’re all artists now, and we have to be passionate about what we do to be needed. I read a couple of Seth’s other books this fall, so I look...
Why Our Job Dissatisfaction Is Important
The AP reports new stats on job satisfaction, and brings discouraging but significant news. Only 45% of Americans are happy with their jobs. Compare this to 1987, when 61% were satisfied. If you click the link, you’ll see a graph of job satisfaction over time, and it shows a slow, steady decline. It’s a bigger trend than this recent recession. In fact, 2008 saw a slight increase,...
Thinking is Like Mining
Since Christmas, I’ve been in a kind of self-improving mood. I’ve thought about what weaknesses I need to manage and what strengths I want to develop.
My weakness is self-discipline in staying healthy. So I’m committing to working out 15 times this month. It’s a small step when you think of it that way, but is good progress towards a bigger goal.
My strength is ideas....
“Each man has his own vocation. The talent is the call. There is one direction in...”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
So I'm A Little Geeked...
This should be a good semester:
MC 371
BEND SINISTER, NABOKOV
ETHICAL PHILOSOPHY, KANT
GAY SCIENCE, NIETZSCHE
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, MCCARTHY
ON THE GENEALOGY MORALITY (TRANS: CLARK), NIETZSCHE
ORDINARY VICES, SHKLAR
PALE FIRE, NABOKOV
MC 371 Honors Option
FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS OF METAPHYSICS, HEIDEGGER
PHL 330
PKG:LANGUAGE PROOF+LOGIC-W/CD+SOFTWARE, BARWISE
IAH 206
BRAVE NEW...
What I've Learnt From "Objectified"
I love watching craftsmen at work. The film “Objectified” was a great opportunity for me to do this. It’s basically a series of interviews with industrial designers about their craft. It’s got everyone from Dieter Rams of Braun to Johnathan Ive of Apple to Chris Bangle of BMW. These are heavy guys, whom we can learn much from.
“Objectified” raises an implicit...