Positional goods still explain the modern world, but Hirsch's 1970s details don't hold up
binarybits · x · 2026-10-08
Blogger binarybits argues that Fred Hirsch's concept of positional goods is crucial for understanding the modern world, but the book's analysis is too tied to specific 1970s situations and many details no longer hold. In replies he also discusses Rorty's "Philosophy and Social Hope" and Jane Jacobs' "Systems of Survival."
Related event: Blogger binarybits Shares Nine Books That Shaped His Thinking(2 posts)→
More from AGI Musings
- The Hard Problem of consciousness as a 'water is wet' meme, mapped to four camps — burny_tech · 2026-10-08
- OpenAI math problem #109 tightened ~570-million-fold via nonadjacent axis swaps — aran_nayebi · 2026-10-08
- 'What EA/AI safety folks miss is…': the tell that you're retreading old literature — JacquesThibs · 2026-10-08
- If AI automates math, the frontier shifts from solving problems to asking deeper ones — xwang_lk · 2026-10-08
- Self-Copying AI Breaks One-Person-One-Vote: Social Theory Needs a Rework — jacyanthis · 2026-10-08
- AI Identity as Animism: Every Chunk of Information Can Talk — jacyanthis · 2026-10-08