[lbo-talk] The Paradox of Choice: More Choices, Fewer Varieties

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>[lbo-talk] The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less (the gains from variety)
>Miles Jackson cqmv at pdx.edu, Thu Mar 11 12:06:50 PST 2004
<snip>
>On Thu, 11 Mar 2004, Michael Dawson -PSU wrote:
<snip>
>>These points, however, are footnotes.  The main point is that 
>>choice is one-half of what's miraculous and precious about human 
>>beings (the other half being our capacity for altruism).
>
>This is a pretty ethnocentric claim.  One of the most dramatic 
>changes in human social life over the past 10,000 years has been the 
>increase in opportunities for personal choice, in almost every 
>social institution: family & marriage, profession/occupation, 
>religious affiliations, economic affairs.

Here's another paradox of choice: one of the consequences of 
capitalism is we have more rights/duties to make choices _but_ fewer 
varieties to choose from.

Of Agriculture:

"According to UNEP, there were 13 known varieties of asparagus in 
1903. By 1983, there was just one. There were 287 varieties of carrot 
in 1903; this has fallen to just 21. Over 460 varieties of radish 
were known in 1903; this has dropped to 27. Nearly 500 varieties of 
lettuce were catalogued at the turn of the century; this has fallen 
to 36. Consumer choice...?" (_The Ecologist_, April 
2001,<http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m2465/3_31/73040697/print.jhtml>).

Of Language:

"Linguists now estimate that half of the more than 6,000 languages 
currently spoken in the world will become extinct by the end of this 
century" (Jack Hitt, "Say No More," _New York Times Magazine_, 
February 29, 2004, p. 52).
-- 
Yoshie

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