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Wish I'd understood the hedonic treadmill as a kid instead of in my 30s after a decade plus on a path that I couldn't even appreciate. It's an easy lesson to demonstrate to kids. Imagine if we did that?

Good description of how we conflate capitalism with the mirror of consumerism and end up damning them both. It's the perpetual paradox where we champion free markets but reject the social changes they bring--in this case, what it allows us to do to ourselves. Conversely, we champion social changes but resent the market dynamics that enable them.

Capitalism is a beautiful construct in a healthy society but will always look perverse in an unhealthy one. Ye olde weapon/tool duality. I wrote a vision/manifesto for a healthy society related to this that you guys may find useful.

Nice read, thanks!

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Really appreciate your insightful comment Jonny and glad you enjoyed this essay! I also would've loved to learn about the hedonic treadmill way earlier on in life haha.

And I agree about that weapon/tool duality; it's why I love one of our recent Black Sheep essays on seeking a "middle way" perspective that can account for both the negative and positive of something rather than insisting something like capitalism is all bad or good with no implications even to consider (https://www.wetheblacksheep.com/p/centered-not-centrist-the-middle).

I love a good (constructive) manifesto! Comment back with a link so anyone else interested can check it out too!

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Oohh, gonna read it now. And thanks!

https://jonnyabates.substack.com/p/restoring-american-health-and-our

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Looking forward to reading this!

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