Consumerism

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Quotes from movies
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You sharpen the human appetite to the point where it can split atoms with its desire; you build egos the size of cathedrals; fiber-optically connect the world to every eager impulse; grease even the dullest dreams with these dollar-green, gold-plated fantasies, until every human becomes an aspiring emperor, becomes his own God… and where can you go from there? - John Milton, played by Al Pacino, The Devil’s Advocate

When it comes to money, most people are penny-wise and dollar-foolish.

Big-hat-no-cattle-type

People in Texas have a great way of describing someone who tries to look like more than he really is. Someone who appears like a wealthy rancher (like a farmer with a big hat), but in reality, there is no ranch, no cattle, no nothing. Just a big hat (and probably a fancy car). Someone that spends all their money on keeping up this illusion.

The other afternoon, in an effort to avoid doing my work, I picked up Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. It turned out to be a fitting choice, as Thoreau has quite a bit to say about wasting time.

“The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.”, he writes in Walden.

One of history’s few iron laws is that luxuries tend to become necessities and to spawn new obligations. Once people get used to a certain luxury, they take it for granted. Then they begin to count on it. Finally they reach a point where they can’t live without it. - Yuval Harari, Sapiens

The secret of happiness is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less - Socrates

“In the great halls of Costco, two of our greatest fears are assuaged — that of not having enough, and that of not being enough.” - Yuxi Lin | Longreads.com

Bullet: I like the way you hande that cart. Where’d you learn that technique?

H: Spent a lot of time in supermarkets. Shopping.

Bullet: I can picture it now. A paragon of modern man on a wild sojourn, stalking down the aisles, hunting for pop-tarts.

H: Pot-tarts are not really my poison, Bullet. I prefer to lose myself in the dizzy food coma of synthetic cheese and impossible meats.

Bullet: What has the world come to? A direct line of evolution, from Paleolithic man to a diabetic house husband.

From the movie “Wrath of man”

Quotes from movies

https://mindset-notes.explorer436.com/posts/20250404114639-movies_fight_club/

TODO

Here’s the truth about the ‘planned obsolescence’ of tech
Surveillance pricing
1. Is Surveillance Pricing Ripping You Off? How to Stop Your Data From Being Used Against You https://www.investopedia.com/surveillance-pricing-11701007
2. Should ‘surveillance pricing’ be banned? https://www.npr.org/2025/09/23/nx-s1-5550264/should-surveillance-pricing-be-banned
The Line Between High Prices and Price Gouging https://www.sofi.com/article/economy-markets/the-line-between-high-prices-and-price-gouging/
Why Extended Warranties Might Not Be Worth Your Money: https://www.investopedia.com/extended-warranties-not-worth-your-money-11679616
“The Loss of the Creature”, an essay by the writer Walker Percy.
The bizarre bias that affects how you shop: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20181115-anti-fat-bias-round-shapes-are-sold-to-overweight-customers
Healthy eating: The mind games of supermarkets: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140919-the-mind-games-of-supermarkets
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210120-how-the-world-became-consumerist

Quotes from movies

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