Monday, March 16, 2026

The Wisdom of the Ages

At a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island, Kurt Vonnegut informs his pal, Joseph Heller, that their host, a hedge fund manager, had made more money in a single day than Heller had earned from his wildly popular novel Catch-22 over its whole history. Heller responds, “Yes, but I have something he will never have … enough.”

Update: Thorstein Veblen Question: If much of modern consumption exists not to meet human needs but to signal status and superiority, why do we treat rising consumption as evidence of prosperity rather than as evidence of social rivalry and waste?

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Cowboys & Conquistadors vs. Indians

 Here's Charles Mann's short version of his book  1491  delivered as a lecture. Highly recommended.