155 out of the frying pan, and into the...
So it's time to close the windows, in the middle of a heat wave, and turn on the hepa filter.
I'm home alone, Deb is in Florida. Her dad was moved from the ICU to hospice yesterday. I'm not sure what that really means, I mean, I know what hospice means, I just don't know what is actually happening. She was able to see him, though, and that's huge. I'll learn more today, after she's had a chance to catch up on sleep.
I would love to say we're learning from all of this mask wearing. Learning not to factory farm, not to live in a fire zone, not to choke off water flow and create drought, not to super heat our atmosphere with emissions. But are we? Some of us are aware. But "aware" and "off your ass" are two different things.
So I ate a vegan pot pie for dinner. I couldn't tell the difference, although I would have liked a few more veggies in the mix.
And then I threw away the packaging. Which I picked up in a new car.
"Help I'm alive, my heart is beating like a hammer." -Metric
Let's take a minute to talk about the economy. Let's start with, I am not an economist.
But for a couple years, I've been thinking about writing a book called "The Jack-off Economy." My basic argument is that most people don't actually do anything, we just jack each other off.
Lawyers, teachers, bureaucrats, politicians, a big portion of the justice system, bankers, insurers, gardeners, therapists, artists, writers, marketers, technologists, entertainers, clerks, middlemen, preachers, tourism, hospitality, news, ... Shall I go on?
Personally, I think the Jack-Off Economy is great. But I think it could be better.
Clearly, there is real value in keeping each other busy. Or just keeping busy ourselves.
People who come up with ways of keeping other people busy while using the least amount of natural resources are the current kings.
Bezos has spun a web of gold around some utility, and a lot of useless crap. I'm sorry, but ebooks and Alexa and prime video and twenty-packs of LED candles? Pretty J-O.
But Zuck? FB is pure J-O. There's nothing there, but one big circle-J. Money for nothing.
Oh, but the data. The advertising! Sure, great, ok, but every brand using his platform to hype still isn't as valuable as the platform itself. And arguing that MyPillow isn't J-O is like arguing that a Fleshlight is necessary equipment for survival.
All of this is a long way of saying, instead of trying to revive the old economy, let's just look for ways to keep ourselves busy, and that will be the new economy. The government prints money, it's make believe, so what if we make believe that picking up the garbage in your neighborhood is indeed a six figure task? And instead of all the data you hand over to Zuck and Bez turning into cash in their hands, what if some of it turned into cash in your hands?
Of course, the J-O Economy can be done wrong, too.
In so many ways...
Remember these domes?
Why?
Or, as the city said...
Dunno if you've ever tried to sit outside in downtown SF after dark, but I'm pretty sure the reason they got the domes in the first place was excess airflow. And since they're tables for two, I'm pretty sure there won't be a superspeader event inside one of those domes.
Oh well, another J-O success.
On the one hand, government regulations have helped create food safety.
On the other hand, reading an article like this about someone's underground success only leads me to wonder when they'll get shut down by the city.
So how do we create a J-O Economy with flexibility?
Unfortunately, today isn't the day I'm going to figure that out. Maybe I'll write more later. I had more screencraps to comment on. But for now, I'm putting on a real mask instead of a bandana for the first time since my first trip to Safeway, back in March. My cloth face covering might protect you from the virus, but I want a fucking filter for this smoke.
And now it's off to the farmer's market.
There's ash falling.
Comments
Post a Comment