Expectations Gap arising from consumerism

May 22nd, 2003 books

As Henry Mulich observed in The Discovery Of Heaven that we only realise we are different when we fall in love or we never fall in love. A king’s son grows up thinking every boy gets flags put out for his birthday. There is one lesson I learnt from customer service is that we are all different. Expectations gap arises due to the revolution in marketing and consumerism. A product designed to fill a specific purpose no longer exists. Customers use to have to conform to a product – lives are changed to fit the product, for instance the ford car was the same for everyone. Now digital technology allowing greater customisation gives rise to the illusion that to produce highly customised products is possible and can be done efficiently. Customers now expect products to conform to them. The refrigerator must know I have no more groceries; the CD player must detect my CD has stopped and it should put another one in, if possible, recognise my favourite CD and play that; the bank must remind me my loan is due.

Could it be that it has, in trying to become everything for everybody, a product eventually becomes nothing at all? That is to say, if a computer is no longer something for me to perform difficult computations but a companion, a toy for distracting boredom or a replacement for relationships, so what I want is no longer a computer but something that can fufil my hidden need to, say, keep out loneliness.

So, if my real need is emotional rather than a need to fufil a specific purpose, then what I will learn to do is to resolve my disatisfaction with the world – that is to say, God, really – by buying up tangible goods.

So why is this bad? If buying stuff works for me then, do I really need a God to pick my quarrel with? Shouldn’t this be encouraged as demand fuels the economy to supply?

A Character in The Thought Gang

May 9th, 2003 books

In ‘The Thought Gang’ by Tibor Fischer there is a minor character by the name of Nick. Nick is well to do, great with the chicks, so brilliant he never needed to do any work at all to become the don of Oxford. It strikes him suddenly that happiness is never prologued but only allowed in small doses and dished out in equal proportions. He becomes ill with worry that precisely he is so fortunate his misfortune will be equal in weight. I’ve never met a luckier unlucky man.

Despair (by Alvin Pang)

May 4th, 2003 books

Despair asks only one thing — that you give yourself up to his care. After travelling a long, hard and dusty road, it is tempting to step aside and into his shade, where he serves a light tea of milk and tears, and wafers baked with sighs. He will tell you, among other tales, how he came to be in this quiet location, off the main thoroughfare, after deciding, midway through some forgotten and risky venture, that it was more prudent to stay put, settle and set up shop. Many of his customers have been there all their lives.

Despair keeps no clocks. If you ask him the time, he will always say it is too late to complete your journey. He will tell you his is the last stop there is, anywhere. Do not trust the wily old shopkeeper. Instead, rest a while and thank him for his stories of lost glory. Then it is best to be on your way.

Yin and Yang of a Person’s brain

May 4th, 2003 Uncategorized

Reading www.aldaily.com I came across a quiz. This quiz tries to balance the yin and yang of a person’s brain – the empathy (yin or female) and the systemizing (yang or male).

It interpretes the results thusly: The extreme female brain (which would score high on Empathy and low on Systemizing has yet to be discovered. The extreme male brain (that shows poor scores on Empathy and high scores on Systemizing) may be a manifestation of autism. Why is having an extreme male brain bad while an extreme female brain ok?

Then I read the disclaimer that says: “Please note that psychological test scores are not diagnostic. If you score in the low E range, this is by no means an indicator that you have any kind of problem.”

So if it is not an indicator why does the result page angle it that way, drawing my attention to the same score autistics typically get?

My hackles are raised.

Economic Progress at what price?

May 4th, 2003 Uncategorized

Browsing the web this morning, I found a little local ezine. One person had written “Economic progress, at what price?” (Always when I need to quote I fail the find the same page again: it had been in one of the issues at the2ndrule.com) Is economic progress to blame for fake democracy and the decision for tearing down and rebuilding? Isn’t that buying in all that crap about taking “tough actions” when it is plain that it is an easy excuse? Economic progress helped along by a heavy hand will end quickly like how the economic progress of communist countries first exploded. True economic progress depends on well defined and policed property laws, minimum government intervention, and hungry people.