Thanks for the link to the Stengers book. Re: your idea that we *could* learn
from marketing tricks like bells on slot machines or the hooks that keep us
glued to phones to encourage good behavior ... like a carbon offset app that
rewards you every time you substitute meat for seitan or Impossible, take a
bike instead of a car, ride a train, etc. Surely someone, somewhere is doing
that.
On 11/11/19 8:36 PM, Carl Tollander wrote:
> I find that if I have a more economical vehicle, that I'm somehow motivated
> to drive more. " Fuel Economy" may here be more of a dimensional collapse to
> a more easily apprehended category. Anyhow....
>
> Why is that? The hybrid car (RAV4 hybrid) will gradually train me, via
> feedback availability ("look how 'our" regenerative braking is working, hey,
> don't watch the dash screen too much") and tiny rewards ("good work, your eco
> score is 80, try to work on your acceleration") to drive in a certain way.
> I can see that happening, and that I'm slightly uncomfy about being so
> trainable, but yes, at 50MPG I feel somewhat virtuous, even if I am driving
> 25 up Agua Fria. Works better than the "Your Speed" implied threat of a
> ticket devices placed around the city. Not unlike being glued to a phone
> screen.
>
> Despite all that, I suspect people rebel at things that are good for the
> commons because they dislike the idea of giving up some notion of their free
> will as a consequence of (even indirectly) serving the commons.
>
> In a similar vein, I find myself reading Isabelle Stengers these days, alas
> in many respects because I am an English major and am easily attracted to
> (deceived by?) interesting usage of commas.
> http://openhumanitiespress.org/books/download/Stengers_2015_In-Catastrophic-Times.pdf
> . I used to enjoy Thomas Carlyle, on the other end of the political
> spectrum, and the rhythm of the prose is, seems to me, similar.
--
☣ uǝlƃ
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