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Frank Krygowski <frkrygow@sbcglobal.net> writes:OK. We actually did buy a house with indoor plumbing. So according to you, we did _need_ a furnace. We did not _need_ a fireplace.
On 4/10/2024 10:55 AM, Radey Shouman wrote:That's a great example, because, of course, human beings didn't need toFrank Krygowski <frkrygow@sbcglobal.net> writes:>
>On 4/9/2024 4:41 PM, Radey Shouman wrote:What is the difference between a need and a desire? Nothing, as farFrank Krygowski <frkrygow@sbcglobal.net> writes:>
>On 4/8/2024 2:08 PM, Radey Shouman wrote:It's funny how needs become "real" only when they can be satisfied.Frank Krygowski <frkrygow@sbcglobal.net> writes:>
>On 4/5/2024 12:36 PM, sms wrote:That's just silly. Do bicycles fill a real need? If so, why did itWhat would be nice is a higher-end battery powered light that could>
be charged with a dynamo, and operate at lower power directly from
the dynamo, but there is no such animal.
ISTM that the market generally finds a way to fill almost all real
needs. If such a thing doesn't exist, it's probably a signal that the
benefits are too minor to make it marketable.
take millennia for the market to produce them?
Are you serious? The answer is blatantly obvious: Because the science
and the technology were not yet present to allow manufacture of
bicycles.
I'm not sure what the alternative to "real" is, maybe "fake" needs?
Maslow claimed there was a hierarchy of needs, from basic food and
shelter on up to less pressing desires. They're all real, but some are
more easily deferred than others. Markets provide solutions for needs
when money can be made by selling them; that seems an odd way to define
reality.
I think the market can be a useful tool to evaluate needs, albeit not
a perfect one. This is part of the concept, or maybe a corollary, of
the "Invisible Hand," is it not?
as
the invisible hand can tell.
I'd say the Invisible Hand could tell based on what a person is
willing to pay. We _needed_ to have a heating system in my house, and
would have added one if the house somehow did not have one. We (or
rather, my wife) _desired_ a fireplace as well; but we'd never have
paid to install one.
heat most of the rooms of their houses until very recently, as
Mr. Slocomb can attest. When they added indoor plumbing, they needed
central heat *in order to* prevent their pipes from freezing.
On the other hand, back when people didn't need central heat, theyYep. That was back then. This is now. Heck, if we're going to delve deeply into history, you could argue as (in)effectively that people _need_ a place in the middle of their living room to build an open fire on the floor! That's what predated fireplaces, after all.
needed fireplaces *in order to* have a place to cook their food.
Yes, _some_ people. If you re-read, you'll see I was talking about _most_ people. Remember, bike commute mode share is well under 1%. I was part of that tiny clan, but even I didn't _need_ to be. It was something I desired.Really, even in this universe, most people don't "need" a bicycle at all.Some people need a bicycle *in order to* get to and from work. Maybe
not in your neighborhood, but the world is bigger than that.
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