Sometimes I suspect we only buy 3 things above basic necessities:
The rich mostly buy the belief that the world makes sense
The middle class mostly buys procedural illusions of agency
The poor mostly buy pain relief
Belief pills, agency pills, pain pills
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We’ll also pay to be told that the pills we’ve bought are fake, thereby restarting the demand cycle for genuine pills
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This is why I naturally prefer ways of making money that feel a bit sketchy, where perfect illusions of value creation are hard to sustain. If you’re 100% convinced what you’re doing Creates Value™ it’s 100% illusion.
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There is no certainty of value. Only vague suspicions.
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This is great. I think all pills can be generalized as “structure pills”. Each pill turns ambiguity into structure (often falsely)
Belief systems
Methods/processes for achievement
Actual drugs -> provide a structured habit to wrap life around
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Orwell’s quote about how poverty annihilates the future regularly pops into mind. I also think it kinda explains how neurotic rich people in history like St. Francis had ecstatic conversions to asceticism.
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It’s interesting how buying into cryptocurrency pyramids can satisfy all three for different reasons.
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