The Fallacy of Efficiency

Because of the Jevons Paradox, which can be boiled down to the fact that increased efficiency leads to greater, not lesser consumption: because when we live in a world that prizes maximum output, it never makes sense to do any less than everything. In such a situation, efficiency means something very different from how it’s normally construed: it means great output, greater cost, and greater waste. For the people whose tasks have been made more efficient, it means either a higher work load or (for those who have been made redundant) destitution.

Commentary, Written by: EdgarC.-E. BoylesOctober 19, 2022Clothing, Materialist AnalysisComment

The American Blindspot

One thing that I feel explains not only a great deal of why so many well-meaning young people fail to grasp the nature of the world around them, but also why so much American political discourse is utterly useless: Americans simply cannot do anything like a materialist analysis of current events.