So, as you guys know, I'm very much a futurist, in the sense that I embrace and look forward to positive, sci fi versions of the future. But, as I look at the state of the country, I see most people thinking backwards. Most people seem to be crying over spilt milk, longing for a past that was perfect in their minds but was never that great in practice. We see it with the MAGA movement, we see it with the democrats and their longing over clinton, or the FDR days, and we see it with the leftists too, who often embrace very 19th century concepts of social systems that IMO the 20th century in general kind of proved weren't that great.
I admit, we've seen better days. There is a reason to be depressed over the present and our future. Unless we change our social systems, the future looks bleak for many of us. And I feel like that's why so many people choose to long for a past in which stuff seemed to work better.
I see this a lot with dead mall videos. A lot of people, in discussing malls closing, and obviously declining if they're not dead yet, seem to look back to the past of 2005 and before when malls were "the thing". They go on about how back in the days of the 70s, 80s, 90s, and even early-mid 2000s, malls were like THE place for socialization among teens. Maybe it's the fact that I'm a guy, but I never really had that experience, even though I'm old enough to be on the cusp of my generation doing that. I know a lot of people in my high school loved to go to the mall and socialize and buy Aeropostale and Abrocrombie and Fitch or whatever, but me...I just never got into that. The extent of my experiences at the mall were being forced to go as a kid with my parents on the weekends since they went and I had to go with them as I was too young to be left home alone, walking around all day bored out of my mind, stopping frequently to sit on benches and play video games while they looked at clothing for hours, and then being rewarded for my patience with a trip to the toy store or to EB games or something, where they'd buy me something. While i enjoyed getting things, like toys, and video games, I never liked the act of shopping. I mean why spend hours looking at stuff you would never buy? It never made sense to me. And as I got older, I stopped going to malls for the most part. Two of my most recent trips involved class trips in college in which I studied the cultural impact of malls and how people used them to socialize or as an excuse to get out of the house. I never understood the point of this since I like my house. All of my stuff is there. And while I did go to my dad's former place of employment for various reasons when he worked there to help him with something on occasion, I never really...shopped there. I mean, I legit havent stepped foot in a mall for shopping purposes since like the early-mid 2000s.
The fact is, I'm one of the reasons the malls are closing. I abandoned them. I stopped shopping in them. Why shop there when I can shop at walmart, or target, or best buy, or go on amazon or newegg? If I go shopping, I do so for a specific purpose. I dont wanna do what my parents did and just spend my weekends at the mall going store to store trying to find a bench to play video games on, and wondering when I can finally go home because im tired and bored. Im mean with the advent of online shopping, I never go to a physical store to buy stuff unless im aware of something specific that I want that's going to be on sale. Even then, most of those places aren't malls. it's walmart and target and gamestop and best buy. And even then, with how black friday and christmas shopping has changed in recent years, I don't even do that. Like, you can just buy everything online and have it delivered. Bing, bam, boom, i have entire online catalogues of stuff right in front of me, and i just get the stuff delivered to my door. Why go out? I'm not exactly very extraverted.
Maybe I'm kinda weird. I admit, I'm one of those weirdos who actually LIKED the lifestyle changes that came with covid lockdowns because everything had to do with keeping away from people and staying home as much as possible. But, I can't be that weird, because the numbers show that people just aren't into malls. Yes, some malls are still successful. But they're becoming increasingly niche and upscale, and "focused on experiences", knowing that millennials and zoomers only like to leave the house to actually do things that are fun.
So...when I see people feeling sad that these malls they no longer go to regularly are going out of business, I kinda sorta have to ask, why are you sad? Sure, I have memories of these places too. Sometimes positive, sometimes negative, mostly something in between. THere was a good chunk of my childhood spent at malls whether I liked it or not, and the point is, not all experiences are bad. But do I long for the past? No. Because I havent regularly spent time in malls in like 20 years now. I recognize I'm part of the problem with malls dying. And I'm very much an out with the old, in with the new kind of guy. Which gets to my main point here.
This is the efficiency of the market at work. Markets decide what business models are successful and what aren't. Efficient models make money, inefficient ones dont. And I know lots of people like to romanticize the concept of shopping along main streets at small businesses, or spending time in the mall, but at the end of the day, how many of you...regularly do this? I've witnessed the war on normal people in action, and I've seen a lot of these businesses go out. But you know what? I also understand why they do. Because people no longer shop there. Let's not try to force it, or try to encourage people to partake in the traditions of the past. What worked in the 20th century doesn't work in the 21st. And that is life. Why keep malls open when very few people go to them or spend money on them? Let them die. They've been replaced with superior and more efficient ways of shopping, and the experience of the mall is becoming incredibly niche and upscale. While this cultural relic will live on in some form going forward, it seems obvious that for most people, it's not gonna be the option. Because, quite frankly, most normal people do not shop in these places any more, and haven't for a while. People like walmart and target and amazon and that's okay. Sure, theres issues with consolidation and the threat of monopolies and oligopolies, sure, there needs to be some regulation there in my opinion to ensure this relationship isn't predatory. But all in all, if the new ways are better and more convenient, why stick to the old? because of outdated concepts of socialization that don't work in the digital age? Give me a break.
But, you may ask, what about the jobs? And yeah, you know me by this point. I'll just say what I always do. That maybe jobs should exist to be a means to an end and rather than celebrating the concept of employment, when employment isn't even voluntary for most people, that maybe we should embrace this new found freedom to....live as we want, and do what we want. Maybe we should start doing away with the concept of employment, or at least "full employment" as we currently pursue it, and aim for a world in which there are fewer jobs, and people work less. We have the productivity to do it. We're richer than ever, the rewards are just poorly distributed because we insist on employment as THE WAY to solve poverty. If we were to embrace a UBI, then you know what? I say screw jobs, and screw work, and screw employment. I mean, as I keep saying, jobs are just rich people making poor people do stuff for them, for money. When you really think about what a job is, it's not really that great. It's just that, once again, we're backwards faces and insisting on romanticizing the past rather than looking to make things work for the 21st century. It's not the 20th century any more. Malls don't work any more. Employing every available person doesn't work any more. Our economy doesnt work any more, on some levels. In some ways our economy is great, greater than ever, but for those whose livelihoods are tied to an outmoded way of living, these shifts aren't fine until we change how we make our livelihoods. Which is why we should embrace UBI, reducing working hours, and moving toward a world with less work.
The internet is great. I love the internet. Heck, this blog wouldn't have been possible 30+ years ago. Back in the 80s and 90s, the only people who could give their political opinions were those who were rich enough go make their way onto TV and radio. Now any one can start a youtube channel or a blog. Not everyone is successful mind you, but again, if we changed our ideas of what success was, then so what?
Again, on the consumer end of things, these changes are great. Our economy is better than ever. What isn't great is we havent updated our ideas for how we make our living to meet the times. And that's why people are suffering, and why the future looks bleak. We could have a system where we all can do well, or we can have one where we stick to the past and we suffer as a result. So far, we're choosing the latter. But again, as a human centered capitalist, I want to remind people, the economy is supposed to work for us, and we should change things to make it work for us. If what we're doing isn't working, we should change it. And I'd rather change our social conventions to fit the times than to long for a past that doesn't work any more and wasn't that great in the first place.
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