>> /From: Jon Johanning <zenner41 at mac.com
>> <http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk>>
>
>
> />/
> />/Is the thesis that "talkers" are now more prominent in the economy
> than />/"makers"? How would this be measured? My completely
> unsupported opinion is />/that making is still the foundation of the
> economy.
> /
> Yes, making is still the foundation of the economy, and my opinion is
> that talkers are the termites in that foundation. As a result, the US
> economy itself will be completely unsupported soon.
1. I think the thesis is that the talkers set the tone for the whole of the economy. With computer controlled production even the makers are mainly conducting language interactions. As for making being the foundation, what are the makers making? For example, what is an IPOD? Is is a small set of plastic, silicone and metal parts or is the physical part of it simply a conduit to deliver recorded performances and the product of a successful marketing and product development cycle?
In Men and Machines (1929), Stuart Chase wrote, "Under the regime of hand production the problem was to supply consumers with commodities. The problem now is to supply commodities with consumers." That quote assumes that in the first instances there were ready-made consumers for the commodities that could be produced, and in the second that there were ready-made commodities for the consumers that could be persuaded to buy them. Now, it is a matter of creating integrated market and the product in one fell swoop. The model for such simultaneous production and address is language.
Let me give you an example: several years ago a friend who is a still-cam operator was working on a commercial for a battery-operated airplane by Mattel that was not yet in the working prototype stage. They wanted to have the ads for the not-yet-existent product available to do focus group testing on kids before they completed designing the toy and developing the prodution line for it. Everything, of course was on a tight schedule of production targeted at Christmas sales but the point of the exercise wasn't just to make a whole pile of toys and then try like heck to sell them. The point was to know in advance exactly what toy, how many, where and at what price.
The Sandwichman