iWant therefore iAm

Sunny Kalsi says:

09:56am | 22/10/10

“wants are unlimited but resources are limited”

I’ve read this argument many times, and it’s completely wrapped up in the day’s zeitgeist. You’re assuming, of course, that wants always consume resources, which is a flawed assumption.

Indeed, other than non-renewable energy (although, even “renewable” energy means energy from the Sun, which has a finite lifetime), we don’t really “consume” resources as such. We simply transform them. We mine the aluminium and turn it into the iPad shell, we gather glass and so on. In the end we’ll just throw the iPad away, thinking “man my wants exceed the resources on the planet”. The iPad hasn’t gone anywhere, it’s just in the bin (or land-fill). It will eventually get recycled in some way. In addition, while you’re using the iPad, you’re not “consuming” newspapers, which means that paper is free for other uses.

Indeed, all you can do is hoard materials for your lifetime. Once you’re dead it just falls back into the system. Some kid might want some grain to survive for a month, and you might say “no, that grain is for the cow I’ll eat for dinner”, so sure, the kid might die of starvation. (alternately, by buying an iPad, you’re allowing someone else to eat the cow so the child may starve). However, if she lives long enough that you’ll die, you won’t be able to consume the cow, which lets her eat the grain.

So basically, the idea of consumption is as a cycle, not a thing which ends. Us engineers just need to figure out how to make products that are designed to be recycled (that is, consume less energy to be converted into other products). Other than that, the only thing you’re doing is causing people to starve to death by buying an iPad.

RobJ says:

10:30am | 22/10/10

“The first is touch typing.”

You are so right (so is David Suzuki), I left school in 1984, we had computer studies, we were taught BASIC but it didn’t dawn on the school that the boys should be encouraged to take up typing.. Only girls EVER selected typing as an option.

johanna says:

03:03pm | 22/10/10

Agree, Leigh, I did Economics in the last 2 years of high school and it was one of the most useful things in the whole 13 years (after readin’, writin’ and ‘rithmetic).  Things like the law of supply and demand, basic monetary theory and so on sound boring, but in fact dominate a vast number of interactions we have in our daily lives. My sensible teacher pointed out that in the real world, things are a bit more complex and blurred, but as a starting point for understanding how the world works, it was great value.

The second best thing was debating, which taught the basics of constructing and articulating a logical argument. 

That said, a lot of other things were wonderful thanks to inspirational teachers, who brought alive any subject because they loved it.

The trouble with the concept of ‘enough’ is that people have been saying it since civilisation began.  I wonder if someone whose loved one has just been saved or given a decent life by the latest medical advance would agree that ‘enough’ was before that advance?

Always wanting more is our advantage as a species, despite its downside.  One thing you learn in economics is that everything has a downside.  Hence, I suppose, ‘the dismal science.’

TrueOz says:

03:11pm | 22/10/10

“iWant therefore iAm”

You obviously took note in your philosophy classes when syllogisms were discussed too. Steve Jobs will love you for you for your subtle and specious piece of reasoning!

Adam Dennis says:

07:52am | 24/10/10

From my full 13 years at school I learned nothing about dangling participles, buggerall about the Egyptians, zero about the First World War. The periodic table I learned cursorily (good for trivia quizzes), calculus I learned but had no idea what to use it for. I now know much more than in 1980 when I left high school - because I learned three critical things in my childhood: to wonder, to read and to think.

When we debate today’s educational standards we should keep in mind that these three things are the keys to the castle for kids learning to be adults. As long as these skills are imparted, everything else is general knowledge - useful insofar as it forms part of your mental picture of the world.

ps: points nine and ten in the list are broken.