The Price of Convenience

[¯\_S.(ツ).L.I.D._/¯]

Link to original post: [drupal=4598]The Price of Convenience [/drupal]



Hey guys. This is some **** that's been bugging me as of late and has made me seen things in different ways as a consumer.

It's one thing for a product to be a convenient version of a normal or necessary object, one example being a trash can with a foot pedal. People use trash cans, and the foot pedal makes it easier for slightly more money, or maybe just the same amount of money, that depends, but that's not relevant. Basically, things like that make sense to me, I utilize them, and I support innovations such as those that build on a common product by making it more convenient, and therefore more appealing, to a consumer. It makes sense for the buyer and the seller, and that's great!

On the opposite end of things, though, is the category of products that prey on the sheer laziness of the consumer and get them to spend money on false conveniences that are absolutely unnecessary. When I see something like an apple corer it makes me cringe. "Oh, it's so convenient!" you might say. No, it's not. It's a stupid waste of money. Do you know how long it takes to cut up an apple with a knife? Probably about 30-40 seconds. With an apple corer it takes 5 seconds. You're saving yourself 25-35 seconds, that is by no stretch of the imagination a worthwhile amount of time saved for the 4-5$ that you spent on the useless thing. Same with things like automatic car washes where your car goes through the tunnel and voila it's all cleaned. You could get some exercise, and save money by washing your car yourself. Yeah, you might save 15 minutes, but it's completely worth it in my opinion.

I realize I may just be preaching to the choir here because the majority of you people don't have the money to spend on stupid **** but it just makes me angry how stupid and lazy some people can be. It's ridiculous and unnecessary. So yeah. Basically, think about **** before you spend money on it. Do you need this thing? No, do you REALLY need it? Didn't think so. Walk away and spend your money on something worthwhile, like saving for your unborn children's college.

EDIT: If someone has a busy schedule then yes, saving time might outweigh the money they would save, but as you hopefully picked up, that's not the type of person I'm talking about at all.

 

[Alphicans]

I agree with the concept, but not with the examples given. Apple corers remove the core without cutting up the apple, which can change a lot about how a dish is prepared.

Cleaning a car well takes a lot of time actually, and often times you might not have the same products a car wash has.

Basically the point is that you shouldn't be so critical about these things, because there might be a reason why someone owns such products that you haven't thought about.

 

[Patinator]

I knew there was a reason you're my buddy, Solid. :/ I agree... conveniences can be good and bad. Personally, I think we need to take a step back... it's the concept of convenience, of people not having to do the work, that some machine can do it with minimum maintenance, an oiling every few years, that... well... it ain't good, y'know?

Well, that's a slightly different subject I suppose. But, anyhoo. Seems to me, things have been made so that every teenage dropout dopehead can do every job in the world... that ain't right. I think so, anyway. Maybe I'm old-fashioned.

...I dunno if this has anything to do with you said, Solid. XD; I hope so.

10/10, would open and read again.

 

[Alien Vision]

Here is a very good example:

Cars, and how the engine is alot more crowded than it was before.

I understand neccessary things that the car needs to run, but when they pack it air-tight just so the car can go up to 200 MPH, that is completely ********. That obviously increases the price of a car, for something that is useless, unless you are some bored maniac who wants to go 200 MPH down a road.

 

[SharkAttack]

This is a good blog for some thinking.

For the most part the more things you can do for yourself the more you'll save in money.

I hate inventions that force you to get convienence items, well not exactly force you, but annoy you to the point of buying the item.

Back in the day if I lost my t.v. remote it wasn't a problem because older tv's were fast when you changed the channel by pressing the buttons directly on the t.v. I would just get up manually to do this instead of using the remote. These days when you change the channel by hand on newer television sets the channels turn sooo slowly that it's annoying. I now always use my remote and it sucks to lose it someplace in the house, or run out of batteries for it. I haven't permanently lost my remote, but if I ever did I'd likely purchase another one due to the slowness of changing channels. Changes like this suck.

Moral of my story...don't lose stuff and take care of everything.

 

[frotaz37]

Solid I agree 100%. I wish more blogs were about stuff like this.

Unfortunately though, our economy only works (lol) because people buy dumb things they don't need.

 

[¯\_S.(ツ).L.I.D._/¯]

I agree with the concept, but not with the examples given. Apple corers remove the core without cutting up the apple, which can change a lot about how a dish is prepared.

Cleaning a car well takes a lot of time actually, and often times you might not have the same products a car wash has.

Basically the point is that you shouldn't be so critical about these things, because there might be a reason why someone owns such products that you haven't thought about.

I was thinking about adding something regarding your last sentence but I figured most people could just assume that. Yes, if you're a food connoisseur or a chef or something an apple corer is important, but in that situation it would be more of a necessity than a convenience.

Even if you don't have the same products as a car wash, there are always self service car washes that do have the same products. And while washing a car does take time, it's still not an impossible task.

I agree that my examples may not have been the best, but they were just the first things that popped into my head, and it doesn't really matter. I have motivational issues so I just wanted to get my thoughts down on paper (well, my computer).

Pat: You are old fashioned haha , but you're right.

Frotaz: Yep, pretty much. People are idiots.

 

[Mic_128]

I was thinking about adding something regarding your last sentence but I figured most people could just assume that. Yes, if you're a food connoisseur or a chef or something an apple corer is important, but in that situation it would be more of a necessity than a convenience.

Not to mention just people who cook at home. It's just a bad example mate, no matter how you look at it. Now, say it was a motorised laser apple-core-er, then you've got a good example.


....I'd buy one though.

 

[Browny]

Hmmmmm.

Nope. Gotta say I disagree there. First up, let us differentiate between devices which make life quicker and easier which are well-accepted such as a dishwasher, and those that are purely for lazy people (robotic vacuum cleaners). You cant be so quick to draw the line between what is a time saving device and something for lazy people.

I myself am EXTREMELY concious on saving time, I will do absolutely anything to knock seconds off anything if I can, but thats not about being lazy, thats because I absolutely refuse to spend time doing anything which isnt something I want to be doing whilst not impacting on the ability to get it done. This often gets people annoyed at me with how I do things. But its not because I am lazy (I will often walk a mile to and from the grocery store here to do shopping even though I have a car), its because we all have a limited time on this Earth and I hate the idea of wasting time.

Your apple core example. I actually dont have one because I rarely eat apples, but maybe I will get one. When I look at such a purpose, all I think of is 'doing it manually would take about 30 seconds vs 5 seconds for this, what possible benefit is there for taking longer to do something? with that 25 seconds I've saved, I could prepare another aspect of dinner'. Repeat this process throughout an entire day for every single motion and suddenly you've saved yourself a good 30 minutes of time you can use to sleep in, have a longer shower, do anything you want with free time.

I think its very important you understand the relationship between 3 aspects; the products ability to save time, save effort, and achieve the outcome. If a 'convenience' saves time while achieving the same outcome, then it is a perfectly good invention and should be used as often as possible. if it saves effort while achieving the outcome, it should be used in moderation (you cant live off microwaving frozen meals, gotta learn how to cook other foods etc). If something does not achieve the standard outcome while minimising time, again it should be used in mdoeration. However if something minimises the effort AND has a worse outcome, then it is purely for lazy people.

your trash can example fits on the minimise effort for same outcome side of things, so its fine.

All IMO of course, but I feel very strongly about saving time and I know for a fact that some of my friends have lost a cumulative dozens, if not hundreds of hours of their life so far, spent doing things a certain way because they felt compelled to act like we live in the 1990's, things such as using alternate search engines and syntax operators when all you have to do is type your question into google exactly as you would say it to someone.

 

[Shorts]

When it comes down to it, some people who love apple corers may consider video games a cheap/convenient way to entertain yourself when you could be outside playing football or something. It's all about prospective I suppose. I personally would never buy an apple corer, and I honestly don’t care much about getting my car spotless. However I’m not going to call someone who uses apple corers or goes to the car wash an idiot, because I know I like things they themselves would deem a “waste/stupid”.

 

[Sephiroths Masamune]

But its not because I am lazy (I will often walk a mile to and from the grocery store here to do shopping even though I have a car), its because we all have a limited time on this Earth and I hate the idea of wasting time.

Yet your on a social site killing time.

Hmmmm.

 

[Browny]

I'm not wasting it though, I'm doing what I want.

It's a little different to if I was killing time by taking a long detour on a drive to get somewhere because its an easier drive.

But hey, if people would prefer to core an apple manually, sort their clothes out by colour or not use bookmarks in their internet browser instead of sleeping in, they can do what they want.

 

[mountain_tiger]

I'm holding out for a car you can drive telepathically. If that happens within the next fifty years, I'll be happy.

 

[¯\_S.(ツ).L.I.D._/¯]

Hmmmmm.

Nope. Gotta say I disagree there. First up, let us differentiate between devices which make life quicker and easier which are well-accepted such as a dishwasher, and those that are purely for lazy people (robotic vacuum cleaners). You cant be so quick to draw the line between what is a time saving device and something for lazy people.

I myself am EXTREMELY concious on saving time, I will do absolutely anything to knock seconds off anything if I can, but thats not about being lazy, thats because I absolutely refuse to spend time doing anything which isnt something I want to be doing whilst not impacting on the ability to get it done. This often gets people annoyed at me with how I do things. But its not because I am lazy (I will often walk a mile to and from the grocery store here to do shopping even though I have a car), its because we all have a limited time on this Earth and I hate the idea of wasting time.

Your apple core example. I actually dont have one because I rarely eat apples, but maybe I will get one. When I look at such a purpose, all I think of is 'doing it manually would take about 30 seconds vs 5 seconds for this, what possible benefit is there for taking longer to do something? with that 25 seconds I've saved, I could prepare another aspect of dinner'. Repeat this process throughout an entire day for every single motion and suddenly you've saved yourself a good 30 minutes of time you can use to sleep in, have a longer shower, do anything you want with free time.

I think its very important you understand the relationship between 3 aspects; the products ability to save time, save effort, and achieve the outcome. If a 'convenience' saves time while achieving the same outcome, then it is a perfectly good invention and should be used as often as possible. if it saves effort while achieving the outcome, it should be used in moderation (you cant live off microwaving frozen meals, gotta learn how to cook other foods etc). If something does not achieve the standard outcome while minimising time, again it should be used in mdoeration. However if something minimises the effort AND has a worse outcome, then it is purely for lazy people.

your trash can example fits on the minimise effort for same outcome side of things, so its fine.

All IMO of course, but I feel very strongly about saving time and I know for a fact that some of my friends have lost a cumulative dozens, if not hundreds of hours of their life so far, spent doing things a certain way because they felt compelled to act like we live in the 1990's, things such as using alternate search engines and syntax operators when all you have to do is type your question into google exactly as you would say it to someone.

Unless someone leads a ridiculously busy lifestyle because of their profession or something along those lines, I have no reason to believe that they should feel rushed at all times during life. To me, you seem more conscious about saving a small amount of time (you said you may by an apple corer regardless of the fact that you rarely eat apples) than saving money, which doesn't make sense to me. Also, looking at the relationship that you posted, it seems as though the 'save effort' roughly translates into 'how lazy can I be while using this thing', and that's exactly what I'm talking about. Also, if something doesn't achieve a standard outcome in a smaller amount of time, there's absolutely no reason to purchase it in the first place.

Not to mention just people who cook at home. It's just a bad example mate, no matter how you look at it. Now, say it was a motorised laser apple-core-er, then you've got a good example.


....I'd buy one though.

Yes, I suppose. It was a bad example, but like I said before, I just wanted to get my thoughts down on paper and that was the first thing I could think of. It really isn't the point at all. Also >______> to your last sentence .

I'm holding out for a car you can drive telepathically. If that happens within the next fifty years, I'll be happy.

Great.

When it comes down to it, some people who love apple corers may consider video games a cheap/convenient way to entertain yourself when you could be outside playing football or something. It's all about prospective I suppose. I personally would never buy an apple corer, and I honestly don’t care much about getting my car spotless. However I’m not going to call someone who uses apple corers or goes to the car wash an idiot, because I know I like things they themselves would deem a “waste/stupid”.

But spending time playing football or video games is completely different. That's a personal preference type thing, and has nothing to do with saving time. Do you play video games because playing football 'takes too long'? No, because you can do either for as much (or as little) time as you want. I honestly don't think wasting money to save a small amount of time has anything to do with personal preference, people are just lazy and stupid. IGNORE THE APPLE CORER THING JEEZ. You don't have to call them an idiot, but you should be calling them lazy and the exact type of consumer that's preyed on by large corporations. Basically you're comparing apples and oranges with the video game thing and the convenience that I'm discussing.

 

[Fuelbi]

Link to original post: [drupal=4598]The Price of Convenience [/drupal]



Hey guys. This is some **** that's been bugging me as of late and has made me seen things in different ways as a consumer.

It's one thing for a product to be a convenient version of a normal or necessary object, one example being a trash can with a foot pedal. People use trash cans, and the foot pedal makes it easier for slightly more money, or maybe just the same amount of money, that depends, but that's not relevant. Basically, things like that make sense to me, I utilize them, and I support innovations such as those that build on a common product by making it more convenient, and therefore more appealing, to a consumer. It makes sense for the buyer and the seller, and that's great!

On the opposite end of things, though, is the category of products that prey on the sheer laziness of the consumer and get them to spend money on false conveniences that are absolutely unnecessary. When I see something like an apple corer it makes me cringe. "Oh, it's so convenient!" you might say. No, it's not. It's a stupid waste of money. Do you know how long it takes to cut up an apple with a knife? Probably about 30-40 seconds. With an apple corer it takes 5 seconds. You're saving yourself 25-35 seconds, that is by no stretch of the imagination a worthwhile amount of time saved for the 4-5$ that you spent on the useless thing. Same with things like automatic car washes where your car goes through the tunnel and voila it's all cleaned. You could get some exercise, and save money by washing your car yourself. Yeah, you might save 15 minutes, but it's completely worth it in my opinion.

I realize I may just be preaching to the choir here because the majority of you people don't have the money to spend on stupid **** but it just makes me angry how stupid and lazy some people can be. It's ridiculous and unnecessary. So yeah. Basically, think about **** before you spend money on it. Do you need this thing? No, do you REALLY need it? Didn't think so. Walk away and spend your money on something worthwhile, like saving for your unborn children's college.

Wait a minute wait a minute, what if the person doesn't have the time to wash his car? Let's say you're a business man and he works around the clock to get sales and going to meetings. You don't have the 15 minutes to clean up the car in the middle of the day and as such he goes to the car wash to save up time. He also can't wash it in the weekends because he works for most of his Saturday and he doesn't do **** on Sunday, except he's so tired of the work week he choses to take a break instead of going to wash his car because of how stressful his job is. It makes sense for him to use the carwash. It's the easier option and it's also the quicker one before he has to get back to work.

 

[¯\_S.(ツ).L.I.D._/¯]

Wait a minute wait a minute, what if the person doesn't have the time to wash his car? Let's say you're a business man and he works around the clock to get sales and going to meetings. You don't have the 15 minutes to clean up the car in the middle of the day and as such he goes to the car wash to save up time. He also can't wash it in the weekends because he works for most of his Saturday and he doesn't do **** on Sunday, except he's so tired of the work week he choses to take a break instead of going to wash his car because of how stressful his job is. It makes sense for him to use the carwash. It's the easier option and it's also the quicker one before he has to get back to work.

Read the post above yours please. Thanks. Honestly I figured I didn't need to put all these disclaimers about specific examples but I guess I thought too highly of you guys. Also if you read the OP I thought I made it clear that I was talking about people who buy things because they're lazy, not because they need to save time.

 

[Wretched]

Somebody started taking Personal Finance or Marketing.
No but for'real bro, we are wasting resources like no tomorrow. We've been taught to identify ourselves as consumers, and the more we buy and the more we buy it for and the latest thing we buy, the better of a person we are.
I think that is some good ol fashioned bull****, because the price of being such heavy consumers is:
1. Outsourcing cheap labor and taking advantage of other countries
2. We use resources up at an alarming rate.
3. After six months, we only keep 1% of the things we pay for, and the rest goes into the trash, and most of it can't be recycled.

We are messing some stuff up.

 

[Zook]

But spending time playing football or video games is completely different. That's a personal preference type thing, and has nothing to do with saving time. Do you play video games because playing football 'takes too long'? No, because you can do either for as much (or as little) time as you want. I honestly don't think wasting money to save a small amount of time has anything to do with personal preference, people are just lazy and stupid. IGNORE THE APPLE CORER THING JEEZ. You don't have to call them an idiot, but you should be calling them lazy and the exact type of consumer that's preyed on by large corporations. Basically you're comparing apples and oranges with the video game thing and the convenience that I'm discussing.

But don't video games relate to the "don't waste your money on **** you don't need" thing you were talking about in your first post? It's hypocritical of you to be preaching about spending money on only things that matter when you yourself probably buy video games on a regular basis.

And every time I try to wash my car myself, it comes out like crap

 

[Browny]

Unless someone leads a ridiculously busy lifestyle because of their profession or something along those lines, I have no reason to believe that they should feel rushed at all times during life. To me, you seem more conscious about saving a small amount of time (you said you may by an apple corer regardless of the fact that you rarely eat apples) than saving money, which doesn't make sense to me. Also, looking at the relationship that you posted, it seems as though the 'save effort' roughly translates into 'how lazy can I be while using this thing', and that's exactly what I'm talking about. Also, if something doesn't achieve a standard outcome in a smaller amount of time, there's absolutely no reason to purchase it in the first place.

Have you ever heard of the phrase 'time is money'?

Its true. Would I rather have $5, or 25 seconds? Sure Id take the $5.

Repeat that every day for a year, would you rather the $5, or the 2.5 hours? Hmmm suddenly its not so simple. Now combine this with many other aspects of life (Such as letting petrol/milk/any other replenishable product, run to the minimum before going to get more), you might save yourself one slight 3 minute detour every week. Its not much, multiply it by 52, 2.6 hours. For the exact same sum of money, you have pulled 2.6 hours out of thin air.

There are many things which with a very small initial investment, or by a simple change of habits, all add up over time to generate a rather large sum if you ever think about all the repetitive tasks you do which could be made easier by spending a little bit of money.

When you earn a decent amount of money, such trivial costs are not even looked at twice. Once you take into account the MUCH bigger picture, you too will see that time is money, and there is a price you will eventually pay to save time. For me, that price is very small, it just depends on how much you hate repetitive tasks for which there is no realistic benefit for doing them and prefer free time.

 

[Pachinkosam]

hey waz up mother****er just kidding to much important people man ****

 

[Rob_Gambino]

The grocery store I work at sells frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, it blew my mind. They take off the crust on the sandwich as well. But in all honesty, isn't there enough preservatives in peanut butter and jelly? They're not going to go bad. It doesn't take special equipment or a lot of time to make; heck it probably takes longer to make it so you're not eating an ice cube. I don't get it, and I really don't get those who actually buy em.

 

[JOE!]

@Apple Corer

The immediate thing I thought of (since my work has a catering crew) is that those seconds saved multiply tremendously when dealing with more than one apple...

 

[Johnknight1]

The grocery store I work at sells frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, it blew my mind. They take off the crust on the sandwich as well. But in all honesty, isn't there enough preservatives in peanut butter and jelly? They're not going to go bad. It doesn't take special equipment or a lot of time to make; heck it probably takes longer to make it so you're not eating an ice cube. I don't get it, and I really don't get those who actually buy em.

Maybe some people like them frozen=???

But yeah, I can understand why some things are sold to save time, but seriously, the shake weight. Really?

Bu really, first world country citizens tend to see themselves as purely financial consumers, instead of financial savers.

"A dollar saved is a dollar earned."

tl;dr

You can spend $5 to save 5 seconds on tons of crap if you have the money and you will use it, but if you don't have the money for tons of things that do it or you won't use it, don't buy it. Plain and simple.

 

[Shorts]

But spending time playing football or video games is completely different. That's a personal preference type thing, and has nothing to do with saving time. Do you play video games because playing football 'takes too long'? No, because you can do either for as much (or as little) time as you want. I honestly don't think wasting money to save a small amount of time has anything to do with personal preference, people are just lazy and stupid. IGNORE THE APPLE CORER THING JEEZ. You don't have to call them an idiot, but you should be calling them lazy and the exact type of consumer that's preyed on by large corporations. Basically you're comparing apples and oranges with the video game thing and the convenience that I'm discussing.

Well you're calling people stupid for wasting money on things they personally find value in. Which is in itself stupid. I used the video games as an example of something people may view as a "Stupid waste of money". Like Zook said, it's hypocritical. The value you may see (or not see) isn't anything more than a personal view. I don't like football, at all. I think it's a boring sport to watch, but that doesn't mean I think everyone who watches is stupid for liking it. Even if I did think everyone who watches football is stupid, I wouldn't go onto the internetz and say that.

 

[Pachinkosam]

but look at people they still spend alot money on video games .but am 14 year old 60 dollars it alot ****ing money and one thing football suck so bad

 

[Alien Vision]

Shortie, just because people find value in something doesn't mean they aren't ignorant of the overall scheme behind inconvenience that could be present.

 

[Wretched]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8
This is really insightful, and I think it might expand yo' knowledge, Solid.

 

[¯\_S.(ツ).L.I.D._/¯]

But don't video games relate to the "don't waste your money on **** you don't need" thing you were talking about in your first post? It's hypocritical of you to be preaching about spending money on only things that matter when you yourself probably buy video games on a regular basis.

And every time I try to wash my car myself, it comes out like crap

Buying something for entertainment is completely different than buying something for convenience. Like, not even in the same ballpark. Apples to oranges. This blog is about convenience, I even put it in the title to make it easy. If you want to point out where I said that people should only buy the bare minimum and not spend money on ANY entertainment EVER please be my guest, but I'm pretty sure I didn't.

Well you're calling people stupid for wasting money on things they personally find value in. Which is in itself stupid. I used the video games as an example of something people may view as a "Stupid waste of money". Like Zook said, it's hypocritical. The value you may see (or not see) isn't anything more than a personal view. I don't like football, at all. I think it's a boring sport to watch, but that doesn't mean I think everyone who watches is stupid for liking it. Even if I did think everyone who watches football is stupid, I wouldn't go onto the internetz and say that.

See my response to Zook.

Have you ever heard of the phrase 'time is money'?

Its true. Would I rather have $5, or 25 seconds? Sure Id take the $5.

Repeat that every day for a year, would you rather the $5, or the 2.5 hours? Hmmm suddenly its not so simple. Now combine this with many other aspects of life (Such as letting petrol/milk/any other replenishable product, run to the minimum before going to get more), you might save yourself one slight 3 minute detour every week. Its not much, multiply it by 52, 2.6 hours. For the exact same sum of money, you have pulled 2.6 hours out of thin air.

I certainly see your point, and I agree that time is valuable in the long run. But when people blow **** up in ridiculous proportions to try to prove a point, I see it as just that: ridiculous. Saving yourself 2.5 hours in a year is completely different than saving 2.5 hours now. It's not at all like pulling 2.5 hours out of thin air. It may add up to 2.5 hours in a year, but it's still only 25 seconds in the present, and I can personally guarantee that everyone on the planet wastes way more time than doing many other things. Save me the money, I can spend the money I save NOW. Anyway we're going off topic.

Wretched: Thank you, I'll check that out.

 

[Alien Vision]

If humans were alot more dependent..More than 85% of our jobs wouldn't even exist today in the first place, now would it? :O

See what I did thar :random:

 

[Johnknight1]

Seriously, there's a such thing as getting value out of what you buy. That's why when I buy a game, I beat it, and probably play it after I beat it. I don't waste $65 with tax on a game I touch once (heck, I rarely buy those games until the price drops). I try put at least 50 hours into it. I once spent $3 on MGS2, and I've put in easily over a hundred hours of enjoyment into that game. It was easily worth it.

The same goes with something for convenience. Is having a toilet and waste management totally needed? No, but it's definitely nice. How about living in a home instead of a cave? Refrigerated, frozen, or preserved food instead of food that molds, rots, or becomes all nasty real quickly?

While the natural line for what is needed (food, water, shelter, reproduction to keep a species alive), what we consider "necessity" after that isn't absolutely needed (actually, most Americans consider a cell phone a necessity). After all,if you don't care if you get cavities, various tooth or gum defect or diseases, or bad breath, why would you need to brush or floss your teeth as a necessity=???

 

[Alien Vision]

As much as we have become dependent in alot of what we do, and how warped our reality has become.

Alot of what you say is controversial, John.

We may never know what this world would be like if people actually learned how to do more than half the things people have jobs for. What we would really find neccessary in the end.

 

[Johnknight1]

Hey Alien, all I'm saying is toilet and toilet-related plumbing isn't totally necessary. Do I consider it necessary? Heck yes, because it's more sanity, prevents us from getting disease, and keeps everything from smelling like... well... yeah.

Mankind is able to adopt, which is its' greatest strength. If we were stuck on a deserted island with none of our technological-related crap, as long as we had a source of food (whether gather, animals to hunt, fishing, or farming) and good water that isn't salty as heck, we would be able to survive once our instincts kicked in.

 

[¯\_S.(ツ).L.I.D._/¯]

Hey Alien, all I'm saying is toilet and toilet-related plumbing isn't totally necessary. Do I consider it necessary? Heck yes, because it's more sanity, prevents us from getting disease, and keeps everything from smelling like... well... yeah.

You answered your first post here. You don't need plumbing, but the reason people have it has nothing to do with convenience. Not getting diseases isn't 'convenient', it's 'sanitary'.

 

[Alien Vision]

I am just going to put this idea out there..

Have you ever noticed how people who live on farms are able to handle the smell of manure? (Sp?)

It could be a heavy possibility that we are so used to the good aromas of life, that we aren't able to handle the bad smells. A couple times in my life I was forced to handle some very unwanted odors. I would then quickly realise how there are people out there who live in unwanted odors everyday, and there has to be a reason why they are able to handle it, albeit it may be unsanitary-- so I endured it and kept myself from getting sick.

I see dogs **** everywhere, and I still get sick once a year. I have been in some very nasty houses, and still never got sick.

Diseases are carried by fecal matter, doesn't mean it comes from it exclusively.

The diseases are completely a seperate culprit that can be said for thousands of other ''uneccessary'' things in life.

 

[FoxBlaze71]

Old people are great examples of this issue. " Now Sonny, when I was a child, we didn't have smartphones and computers and all this ****. We worked hard, but nothing came instantly. ". Our economy supports the " I want it now " concept. Time is everything to our culture, even those of us with several decades left. A lot of the things we use are unneccessary, but they improve our lives ( i.e., jets, fast food, and the aforementioned indoor plumbing ).

 

[Alien Vision]

That still doesn't defeat the fact of how controversial this entire concept is.

Reality is warped which is a dead ringer.

People have so many different ideas for the world we all live in, that every answer we make is just another question to another person.

So why bother with something that can never be fully understood?

Everyday I question why people buy jewelry, enhancements, clothes that cost like 100+ dollars, 3000 limos, more than one house, fan shirts, fan items, etc.

It is pointless!

IMO <-- /Thread

 

[FoxBlaze71]

Well, because they think those things enrich their lives.

 

[Alien Vision]

A voice once told me: You may see them for what they are not, but they may see themselves as what they've always wanted to be.

 

[FoxBlaze71]

Damnit, another riddle?

 

[Alien Vision]

It is not a riddle. It's a bit deep, but it's not hiding any philosophical symbolism.