David Pye argues that what culture has come to see as ‘good’ and ‘better’ is in truth the opposite of their definitions. What we find good, is actually cheap. We are a culture of consumers, and institutions such as a Wal-Mart, and Costco have only ingrained this sense of buying big ,buying in bulk, buying for cheap, as good. In truth, the opposite of cheap is often better. The more expensive something is the more likely it is to last, to be durable, and to have worth later in life.
Similarly, it is this same twisted sense of’ better’ which leads us to many of our innovations. Pye states that our happiness cannot be bought, but it can be formed. This phenomenon is due the fact that creature comforts mean the same thing to everyone. People want to spend less time doing housework? Then create rugs that don’t get dirty or self-propelled vacuums. Make things so they can “be redesigned so as to be cheaper, easier to make, easier to wash…” and continue to feed our cultures need for what is ‘better’.
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