I think this statement is part of the bigger question of where our wants and desires come from. Personally, I find this question particularly daunting. After growing up in a working-class family, I am now surrounded by wealth and financial opportunity in a way that I couldn’t fathom growing up. The longer I am here, the more I find myself wanting things I had, literally, never heard of six months ago (bespoke dress shirts, for example). This tendency, combined with the great difficulties most have scaling back their lifestyle (Eben described it as "downshifting"), seems to be one way that corporate firms trap you into what then becomes something like indentured servitude.

So, how can we authenticate our desires? Is it important to do so? Can we pull our heads into our collars, like turtles, and pretend that we never read Veblen or Leff?

-- AdamCarlis - 12 Mar 2008