> 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?
I don't think that entertainment trinkets such as iPod are all that important for the whole economy, as opposed to Apple. By "making," I'm talking about food, clothing, shelter, and other bedrock necessities, without which our lives would swiftly become not very enjoyable. The potential demand for these necessities, world-wide, is still far from being completely satisfied; there is no need to artificially pump it up. Why are so many luxury goods being produced for which "artificial demand" needs to be generated in a world teeming with starving and underfed people? That's a much more important topic than Virno's "politicized work," IMHO.
Your metaphor "set the tone" is much too imprecise, and you need to provide some actual economic evidence, not just a few anecdotal examples.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________ It isn’t that we believe in God, or don’t believe in God, or have suspended judgment about God, or consider that the God of theism is an inadequate symbol of our ultimate concern; it is just that we wish we didn’t have to have a view about God. It isn’t that we know that “God” is a cognitively meaningless expression, or that it has its role in a language-game other than fact-stating, or whatever. We just regret the fact that the word is used so much.
— Richard Rorty