Unusually Free to Make Uncommon Choices

Here are some choice cuts — with a bit of a through-line — from The Day the World Stops Shopping (2021) by JB MacKinnon:

On the free will that comes with minimalism:

Classical economic theory holds that consumers know what is best for themselves and act rationally in their self interest, a perspective that remains influential today. Paradoxically, it is anti-consumers, not mainstream ones, who come closest to this ideal: they are more likely to make active, informed choices … are less swayed by advertising and fads, and are less likely to feel trapped in consumption or to [try to] use it as a means of escape.

It’s a false means of escape: a delicious and enjoyable one usually, but it’s important to remember the difference between escapism and Escapology. Focus on what matters.

Many people perceive living simply as limiting; [but downshifter Syd Fredrickson] said it has always made her feel unusually free to make uncommon choices, question conformity, act spontaneously and express herself through her words and appearance. All her adult life she has watched people around her pursue careers they didn’t like or stay in jobs they hated because they would not risk ending up with a lower income. “They would say their lives were all hollow and crazy… They just thought it was too scary to do something else,” she said.

Sound familiar?

On how non-consumers might spend their time:

[Even though we need collective action at the policy level to actually save the planet,] it is still reasonable to reduce your consumption for personal reasons alone. [And] there are many more roles that individuals can play. A world that stops shopping needs new products and services, new theories of how an economy can function, new ways of making meaning in our lives, new models for doing business, new habits, new policies, new protest movements, new infrastructure. As Kris De Decker said, “We need to rethink everything.”

In other words, when you reduce your interest in materialist consumption you don’t merely absent your money and time from the system but you also open up some of the bandwidth needed for the Great Project of rethinking everything. Isn’t that cool?

On innovation vs. the profit motive:

Traditional economists have long claimed that innovation is driven by the profit motive, but that, too, does not appear to be the way that it actually works. [The research of Eric von Hippel] found that many innovations don’t even originate in businesses, but rather among everyday people, who often share their ideas freely. … The inventor [or hobbyist] takes satisfaction not from making money but from creating something useful and gaining standing in the community. Similarly, scientists themselves tend to invent the scientific instruments that are most important to the advancement of science, often profiting little or not at all from their inventions.

New Escapologist is written, decorated, and published by such people. Get it here.