Thanks for this piece! Dropping quick thoughts sparked by:
"to qualify as luxury, the object or part of it must be handmade.” -
...that is until the machine-made copies become common enough that it is too cumbersome to figure out whether or not they are in fact "original". Beyond that point of affordable verification, price just drops.
The value depreciation of diamonds throughout the last decades seems to be a point in case for this - the industry is desperately trying to sell illusions but unclear how long that can last: https://images.app.goo.gl/WZJMZYvgY2K8UobH8
I suspect that eventually, the masses will accept that lab grown is just as good and culture will embrace luxury for everyone.
And then indeed, most of our value production comes from shared experiences. On top of global megasuperstars, there will be lots of local ministars (and ministers), building various types of intersecting communities and networks.
I think this combination of trends is likely to lead us away from "class stratification" as a value, because classes (and outgroups) are only useful when your basic needs aren't taken care of. But beyond a baseline level, most people will not care about getting richer or higher status. Most people will just want to vibe.
For a while, some people will vibe with luxury but their vapid value function will be gamed again and again, exploited by those with a more convincing value function that coordinates people across geographies and generations. I suspect that'll eventually build a global culture of exploration, a second age of enlightenment. Or maybe that's all wishful thinking. :D
Thanks for this very thoughtful comment! I agree that diamonds are an interesting counterexample - maybe need to look more into it. How easy it is to tell human-made/natural and synthetic apart is definitely a key function for artificial scarcity. I am maybe a bit more optimistic that there will be accessible ways to verify authenticity. Eg banknotes / Chanel bags have held up pretty good so far. I love your optimistic vision about mini-stars - it's true that the Internet allows much more subcultural specialization and in that sense is creating more status hierarchies etc rather than just by wealth. I guess the weaker formulation of "we cannot all be Taylor Swift/ chess champions would remain "- not everybody can be a "cultural long tail" star and live off it, but it's a good argument and a much more appealing vision than a monolithically stratified society :D
Yes, I imagine a fractal of sub-cultures, everyone is a local star somewhere on some dimension, which is totally sufficient for our simple brains - means we feel valued for who we are. If we still need economics, then our surroundings just also need to reward us for that. The world will be much more decentralised, creative, robust. As long as people's epistemics and language don't go haywire...
Thanks for this piece! Dropping quick thoughts sparked by:
"to qualify as luxury, the object or part of it must be handmade.” -
...that is until the machine-made copies become common enough that it is too cumbersome to figure out whether or not they are in fact "original". Beyond that point of affordable verification, price just drops.
The value depreciation of diamonds throughout the last decades seems to be a point in case for this - the industry is desperately trying to sell illusions but unclear how long that can last: https://images.app.goo.gl/WZJMZYvgY2K8UobH8
I suspect that eventually, the masses will accept that lab grown is just as good and culture will embrace luxury for everyone.
And then indeed, most of our value production comes from shared experiences. On top of global megasuperstars, there will be lots of local ministars (and ministers), building various types of intersecting communities and networks.
I think this combination of trends is likely to lead us away from "class stratification" as a value, because classes (and outgroups) are only useful when your basic needs aren't taken care of. But beyond a baseline level, most people will not care about getting richer or higher status. Most people will just want to vibe.
For a while, some people will vibe with luxury but their vapid value function will be gamed again and again, exploited by those with a more convincing value function that coordinates people across geographies and generations. I suspect that'll eventually build a global culture of exploration, a second age of enlightenment. Or maybe that's all wishful thinking. :D
Thanks for this very thoughtful comment! I agree that diamonds are an interesting counterexample - maybe need to look more into it. How easy it is to tell human-made/natural and synthetic apart is definitely a key function for artificial scarcity. I am maybe a bit more optimistic that there will be accessible ways to verify authenticity. Eg banknotes / Chanel bags have held up pretty good so far. I love your optimistic vision about mini-stars - it's true that the Internet allows much more subcultural specialization and in that sense is creating more status hierarchies etc rather than just by wealth. I guess the weaker formulation of "we cannot all be Taylor Swift/ chess champions would remain "- not everybody can be a "cultural long tail" star and live off it, but it's a good argument and a much more appealing vision than a monolithically stratified society :D
Yes, I imagine a fractal of sub-cultures, everyone is a local star somewhere on some dimension, which is totally sufficient for our simple brains - means we feel valued for who we are. If we still need economics, then our surroundings just also need to reward us for that. The world will be much more decentralised, creative, robust. As long as people's epistemics and language don't go haywire...
Also, timely share from the works in progress newsletter: https://worksinprogress.co/issue/lab-grown-diamonds/
I like this vision. Thanks for the link!