I think grocery stores are in a way one of the first cases of unlimited bananas. Quite literally. My parents thankfully raised us more agrarian even though they worked in a grocery store their entire working lives. I think they saw what it did to people. It was and is a pornography of produce.
This metaphor has me thinking "Like a Michelin chef picking ingredients, I need to consciously choose the healthiest selection of bananas". Not just the healthiest but I know I desire to know my farmers. I trust my own produce and those I consume when I feel connected to the producer.
Obviously we want no soul to starve, but we are perhaps collectively discovering what it takes to empower every person to farm. Even if it's a single crop, something to feel apart of creating, in an otherwise limitless sea of consuming.
Great piece Jeff, loved reading it and I know I'll be sitting with this idea more. My best to you.
Hey Steven, I like how you are taking the metaphor to a new dimension. Those are great points, especially the idea of sticking with my homegrown bananas so to speak.
The best treatise on our endless desire for more and what to do about it is psychologist Timothy Miller's *How to Want What You Have: Discovering the Magic and Grandeur of Ordinary Existence*. The short summary is that our ancestors evolved to be never satisfied with the status, love, and resources they currently had because pursuit of more of those things made them more reproductively successful than individuals who were not similarly motivated. In times of scarcity, the motive to always want more was adaptive, but today with "unlimited bananas" the motivation for more that we inherited causes misery. The solution, suggests Miller, is to cultivate compassion, attention, and gratitude. These three attitudes do not destroy our desire for more, but at least they can take the edge off and reduce our suffering.
This is a great piece. In a world of unlimited bananas, I would say the solution isn't moderation. It's meaning. It's the ability and opportunity and sense of purpose to turn those bananas into a sense of purpose. That's what drives people and what's missing.
Absolutely spot on. But moderation is needed, in part, because bananas are a distraction from the search for meaning. I should've made this point stronger.
I completely agree. The reason I said this is because I've been thinking a lot about "stuff" not as just consumption but tools to do things that give life meaning. I think a lot of people right now have basic comfort (Netflix, Doordash), but not the tools they need to do the things they want that would give their life more meaning. So it's not the number of bananas, but the kinds of bananas most people can get.
It's both getting the right kind of bananas but also not getting so distracted by endless bananas that we can't focus on other, nonmaterial aspects of life that give it meaning — humor, love, relationships, etc.
You can't enjoy humor, pursue love, or go on that two-day hike to find a sunset unless you have the tools you need to have a place in society, take risks, and relax into life. You need certain kinds of material and social capital to chase after meaning. How do we get people the tools to become their selves they want to be, instead of just the material narcotics to forget who they are?
Yes. That's the focus of the article and the unlimited bananas metaphor. It's about the quest to find pareto optimal materialism to enable the good life.
…links to the kinks ape-man…walks back like homer into the shrub to bury his head…this made me wonder about collective goals in general…why seek abundance instead of just right?…the neverending quest for more powers capital yet humanity needs not more, but just right, or less even…you know let’s colonize mars instead of let’s protect earth…i could be talked into both but we are getting either and that makes me feel both empty and gluttonous all at once…
As I make clear in the essay, I am pro-technology and tend to favor that side — but hey, if you’d rather not see diseases cured and other benefits of new tech, that’s on you ;) On the other hand, if we blow up the world or get enslaved by robots we created...
A fun read that sugar-coats an abundance of food for thought. You made me consider how I deal with the problem of excess in my own life. Excess is instructive. After over-eating at a Las Vegas buffet or incinerating a few hours hunched over a screen doom-scrolling, I can't help but recognize how excess gets in the way of what matters. I find saying yes to something greater — our relationships, our values, our mission — makes saying no to lesser things easier.
I also catch myself conflating means and ends. Food is necessary for life, but we don't live merely to eat. Material abundance sustains/enhances life and broadens opportunities, but we don't live merely to gather the biggest pile of money and possessions.
Wisdom is really what we need, and that's what I see you pointing toward when you say the key is moderation. Aristotle was talking about the Golden Mean in 300 BC, advocating for virtue as finding moderation between the vices of deficiency and excess. Someone Biblical said to whom much is given, much is required. Peter Parker said with great power comes great responsibility.
So how do we do this better at the collective level? I wonder how we make progress in our wisdom to keep pace with progress in our technological power. Material abundance isn't sufficient to ensure we flourish.
Great piece. Definitely seeing more clearly the ape staring back in the mirror.
Thanks Vincent. I'm glad this stirred something in you, and I really like your reflections and questions. Re: Wisdom: You may enjoy this piece on "wisdom accelerationism" that I wrote last April. https://jeffgiesea.substack.com/p/seek-the-desert
Yeah. Well, there’s absolutely no way this problem is going to be solved. The human race has just gotten too good at meeting its needs and wants. The problem you outline is going to be with us forever…. let’s hope.
Because not having that problem would be much much worse.
At this point I freeze up just trying to pick which streamer to watch let alone what show. It doesn’t help that I’m indecisive to start. God help me if I’m forced to pick a paint color for a room🤦♂️
I think grocery stores are in a way one of the first cases of unlimited bananas. Quite literally. My parents thankfully raised us more agrarian even though they worked in a grocery store their entire working lives. I think they saw what it did to people. It was and is a pornography of produce.
This metaphor has me thinking "Like a Michelin chef picking ingredients, I need to consciously choose the healthiest selection of bananas". Not just the healthiest but I know I desire to know my farmers. I trust my own produce and those I consume when I feel connected to the producer.
Obviously we want no soul to starve, but we are perhaps collectively discovering what it takes to empower every person to farm. Even if it's a single crop, something to feel apart of creating, in an otherwise limitless sea of consuming.
Great piece Jeff, loved reading it and I know I'll be sitting with this idea more. My best to you.
Hey Steven, I like how you are taking the metaphor to a new dimension. Those are great points, especially the idea of sticking with my homegrown bananas so to speak.
100%. The insane # of choices at the avg grocery store causes me decision fatigue. I mean how many variations of ketchup are REALLY necessary!!
The best treatise on our endless desire for more and what to do about it is psychologist Timothy Miller's *How to Want What You Have: Discovering the Magic and Grandeur of Ordinary Existence*. The short summary is that our ancestors evolved to be never satisfied with the status, love, and resources they currently had because pursuit of more of those things made them more reproductively successful than individuals who were not similarly motivated. In times of scarcity, the motive to always want more was adaptive, but today with "unlimited bananas" the motivation for more that we inherited causes misery. The solution, suggests Miller, is to cultivate compassion, attention, and gratitude. These three attitudes do not destroy our desire for more, but at least they can take the edge off and reduce our suffering.
Thanks John. I wasn't familiar with that and will check it out. https://www.amazon.com/How-Want-What-You-Have/dp/0805033173
I really like where you took this. Appreciating how you unpack "abundance"!
Thank you!
This is a great piece. In a world of unlimited bananas, I would say the solution isn't moderation. It's meaning. It's the ability and opportunity and sense of purpose to turn those bananas into a sense of purpose. That's what drives people and what's missing.
Absolutely spot on. But moderation is needed, in part, because bananas are a distraction from the search for meaning. I should've made this point stronger.
I completely agree. The reason I said this is because I've been thinking a lot about "stuff" not as just consumption but tools to do things that give life meaning. I think a lot of people right now have basic comfort (Netflix, Doordash), but not the tools they need to do the things they want that would give their life more meaning. So it's not the number of bananas, but the kinds of bananas most people can get.
It's both getting the right kind of bananas but also not getting so distracted by endless bananas that we can't focus on other, nonmaterial aspects of life that give it meaning — humor, love, relationships, etc.
Here's the thought I've been chewing on:
You can't enjoy humor, pursue love, or go on that two-day hike to find a sunset unless you have the tools you need to have a place in society, take risks, and relax into life. You need certain kinds of material and social capital to chase after meaning. How do we get people the tools to become their selves they want to be, instead of just the material narcotics to forget who they are?
Yes. That's the focus of the article and the unlimited bananas metaphor. It's about the quest to find pareto optimal materialism to enable the good life.
…links to the kinks ape-man…walks back like homer into the shrub to bury his head…this made me wonder about collective goals in general…why seek abundance instead of just right?…the neverending quest for more powers capital yet humanity needs not more, but just right, or less even…you know let’s colonize mars instead of let’s protect earth…i could be talked into both but we are getting either and that makes me feel both empty and gluttonous all at once…
We need abundance today to get to tomorrow’s just right. :)
…sounds more techno-optimist than realist to me ;)…but i am just a lonely a.i. …
As I make clear in the essay, I am pro-technology and tend to favor that side — but hey, if you’d rather not see diseases cured and other benefits of new tech, that’s on you ;) On the other hand, if we blow up the world or get enslaved by robots we created...
...i'd just argue that not all abundance weighs the same...unlimited doritos isn't curing cancer...
Yeah totally. See paragraph beginning: "Not all abundances are created equal, of course."
A fun read that sugar-coats an abundance of food for thought. You made me consider how I deal with the problem of excess in my own life. Excess is instructive. After over-eating at a Las Vegas buffet or incinerating a few hours hunched over a screen doom-scrolling, I can't help but recognize how excess gets in the way of what matters. I find saying yes to something greater — our relationships, our values, our mission — makes saying no to lesser things easier.
I also catch myself conflating means and ends. Food is necessary for life, but we don't live merely to eat. Material abundance sustains/enhances life and broadens opportunities, but we don't live merely to gather the biggest pile of money and possessions.
Wisdom is really what we need, and that's what I see you pointing toward when you say the key is moderation. Aristotle was talking about the Golden Mean in 300 BC, advocating for virtue as finding moderation between the vices of deficiency and excess. Someone Biblical said to whom much is given, much is required. Peter Parker said with great power comes great responsibility.
So how do we do this better at the collective level? I wonder how we make progress in our wisdom to keep pace with progress in our technological power. Material abundance isn't sufficient to ensure we flourish.
Great piece. Definitely seeing more clearly the ape staring back in the mirror.
Thanks Vincent. I'm glad this stirred something in you, and I really like your reflections and questions. Re: Wisdom: You may enjoy this piece on "wisdom accelerationism" that I wrote last April. https://jeffgiesea.substack.com/p/seek-the-desert
Yeah. Well, there’s absolutely no way this problem is going to be solved. The human race has just gotten too good at meeting its needs and wants. The problem you outline is going to be with us forever…. let’s hope.
Because not having that problem would be much much worse.
Sure, let's hope. But it’s not a reason to avoid grapple with these issues. Luxury problems are still problems.
At this point I freeze up just trying to pick which streamer to watch let alone what show. It doesn’t help that I’m indecisive to start. God help me if I’m forced to pick a paint color for a room🤦♂️