Rewards are more predictable than punishment when it
comes to controlling behaviour. Almost the whole world knows it these days,
because the whole world is addicted to rewards in one way or another. We have evolved into consumers.
It was no great surprise either. Consumer society is self-rewarding
and nobody is about to get in its way, not with tens of trillions of dollars per annum of consumer spending at stake. From central heating to holidays in
the sun, from the next iCrap gadget to a two thousand calories pizza and a
gallon of beer every Friday night, there is no going back.
Back to where? Maybe a certain puritanical yearning might
stem the tide, but even that seems more likely to result in the consumption of
goods and services with puritanical branding. Solar panels, electric cars,
curly light bulbs, recycling and Greenpeace memberships are merely grist to the
consumer mill.
Not only that, but we can add righteousness to the rewards
list too. Environmental goody-goodies can’t be wrong. Has to be rewarding.
Politically correct prigs who can’t be wrong either. Oh it’s
all so rewarding isn’t it? We’re addicted to it as deeply and as irrevocably as
any crackhead.
Oh and blanket caring as in Children in Need type caring – mustn’t
forget that. We’ll add that to the list because it’s another form of
consumption - caring can be something we buy.
It’s not merely a matter of gargantuan consumer spending.
This is far and away the most humongous force affecting human behaviour ever
seen. Nobody is running it either. That’s the entertaining part because
Guardian readers and BBC types hate that.
So what about the future? Where is this gargantuan deluge of
addictive rewards likely to take us?
Well the addicted consumer has already seen off
Christianity, common sense and rational politics so in a broad sense there
isn’t much territory left to conquer. Islam will succumb within a generation
and beyond that is anyone’s guess and...
...and that’s enough of that...
...clicks over to Amazon.
12 comments:
Buddhism - and its paradoxes, e.g. you can't attain enlightenment if you're seeking it!
... perhaps I should have used the term "non-attachment".
P.S. Do you, too, get a tiny sense of existential affirmation when reCAPTCHA confirms that you're not a robot? So reassuring, that green tick.
"Buddhism - and its paradoxes, e.g. you can't attain enlightenment if you're seeking it!"
I think Westerners have constructed a paradox here, but it is not one that is found in the original teachings of the Buddha. Canonical sources frequently urge followers to rouse desire for desireless states of mind. The right kinds of seeking were praised by the Buddha.
I stand corrected. Or sit cross-legged corrected.
Sackers and Sam - so the ultimate ideal is to have a desireless desire for desireless states of mind?
See if I care.
We had attempts to plan economies because economic decisions were supposed to be rational. This led to consumerism which is essentially irrational. Our present consumerism is on course to destroy economies. Back to the caves.
Demetrius - caves full of broken TV sets, laptops, microwaves and piles of other junk that doesn't last long enough.
"so the ultimate ideal is to have a desireless desire for desireless states of mind?"
Just a normal desire for desireless states of mind. A 'desireless desire' seems like a contradiction.
But think of Mu-Mon, the Gateless Gate: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gateless_Gate
"But think of Mu-Mon, the Gateless Gate"
Blimey - I can't! I never could understand that zen stuff. Possibly another paradox that people (this time Chinese and Japanese) have read into the Buddha's original teachings.
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