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Hedonic adjustment is bullshit

Submitted by lambert on Mon, 04/18/2011 - 6:06pm

Read Ian for the gruesome Orwellian-ness, but here's a little parable.

My one real luxury is coffee I grind myself. Every morning, day in and day out. So, four years ago, when I came up here, I got myself a new coffee grinder, white, some brand or other; it was sleek and oval designer-ly; a bright young thing.

So, the sleek new grinder broke down in about six months. And I reverted to a squat, round, un-designerly coffee grinder that my parents bought over in France when I was a child and the family was there on sabbatical; dug it out of the attic.

And four years later, after daily grinding, that grinder is still grinding away, making, in fact, the same noise that would wake me when my father ground his coffee, more years ago than I care to think.

So, under "hedonic adjustment," I'd get more pleasure, and the economy would be that much bigger and better, if I'd bought one of those designerly coffee grinders every six months for four years, than if I'd used the same grinder my father used, without spending a dime.

That's bullshit.

NOTE Via Avedon.

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CMike's picture
Submitted by CMike on

Brad DeLong offers his synopsis of the, as yet, unfilmed prequel:

***********
Back in 1890, New England Utopian Edward Bellamy wrote a book--Looking Backward--that was one of the five bestselling novel of the late 19th century. That Looking Backward was a best-selling novel is worth noting because it is execrable. It is close to the worst novel you could imagine. Complete cardboard characters. No interesting plot. Completely unconvincing romantic subplot. Implausible contrivances. Author stepping out of his role to preach at you over and over again. No possible reason for anyone to read it.

Except that millions and millions of people in America did.

They read Looking Backward because it painted a picture, gave them a wonderful dream, told them what life would be like in the rich world of abundance that Bellamy foresaw for 2100.

And of all the marvels of wealth and abundance that Bellamy's protagonist sees in 2100 after he is transferred forward in time by a totally implausible plot device is this:

The house he winds up staying in in 2100 has its own telephone.

Not only does it have a telephone, but it has a speaker phone.

And not only does it have a speaker phone, but you can call up anyone on it.

And not only can you call up anyone on it, you can call up an orchestra that is currently playing in the city.

And you can put that orchestra on the speaker phone so that you can listen to music in your own home.

And you can not just listen to music--you have a choice: you can choose among four different orchestras.

And when confronted with this marvel of technology, Edward Bellamy's protagonist says:

It appears to me, Miss Leete, that if we could have devised an arrangement for providing everybody with music in their homes, perfect in quality, unlimited in quantity, suited to every mood, and beginning and ceasing at will, we should have considered the limit of human felicity already attained, and ceased to strive for further improvements...

***********

Ironically, it was the gritty sequel which made it to the Big Screen as the 1948 film Key Largo. Here's the final scene (or, at least, it was the final scene in the original storyline):

Edward G. Robinson as the successful gangster Johnny Rocco: There's only one Johnny Rocco.

An aged Lionel Barrymore as the small business owner James Temple who is being held prisoner: How do you account for it?

Humphrey Bogart as the recently returned combat veteran Frank McCloud who is being held prisoner: He knows what he wants. Don't you, Rocco?

Robinson: Sure.

Barrymore: What's that?

Bogart: Tell him, Rocco.

Robinson: Well, I want uh ...

Bogart: He wants more, don't you, Rocco?

Robinson: Yeah. That's it. More. That's right! I want more!

Barrymore: Will you ever get enough?

Bogart: Will you, Rocco?

Robinson: Well, I never have.... No, I guess I won't. You, do you know what you want?

Bogart: Yes, I had hopes once, but I gave them up.

Robinson: Hopes for what?

Bogart: A world in which there's no place for Johnny Rocco.

Submitted by lambert on

I like this:

[Rocco is showing strain at the height of the hurricane's force]
Frank McCloud: You don't like it, do you Rocco, the storm? Show it your gun, why don't you? If it doesn't stop, shoot it.

Great comment, CMike. I'll never understand why you don't post.

Submitted by lambert on

Nice headline, there.