“A Grand Unified Theory of Buying Stuff”
I like Paul Ford. He’s a pal even.1 But here’s my problem with Paul Ford, professionally: there are so many good lines and observations in the things that he writes that it’s difficult to do the absurdly simple thing I need to do in my work here, i.e. pick the “best” selection of a piece of writing to get you to click through and read the rest of it. This is a problem even for his short pieces, like A Grand Unified Theory of Buying Stuff from Wired. Here goes:
The problem is that certain kinds of stuff simply attract more stuff. The home is an obvious one: It craves sofas, sweaters, buffet cabinets, chandeliers. Computers are another; they grow USB tendrils. Smartphones beget earbuds, cloud backups, and music service subscriptions. I am jealous of the people who make it work with an Eames chair, a fancy ottoman, some nice art books, and multigenerational inherited wealth. Their iPads are so empty, just a few apps, whereas I have 60 terabytes of storage spread across a variety of blinking devices because I download large data sets for fun.
But also: “I often trick myself into thinking that the road to less stuff might be paved with more stuff.”
And: “The supply chain is fractal: Zoom in on your stuff and there’s more stuff, ad infinitum.”
Ok maybe just go read the whole short thing.
Ok T for truth here…I have an intellectual crush on Paul Ford that’s now entering its third decade.↩
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