Ride Lugged

A healthy skepticism about the progression of the TV-as-babysitter and the newer Internet-as-babysitter culture is good – these are not exactly virtue based entertainment devices. However, as a larger cultural shift the rise of cheap information and communication technologies will change our culture for the better.
One of the points Casey was making the night this conversation originated ((resurfaced?) also the night these rad pics were taken) was that the value of objects is based on their exclusivity. In terms this blog would understand: a Bridgestone bike is kewler than a Cannondale because it is more exclusive. I’m sure Casey won’t mind me saying, since he is of his own admission, “on such a retro program,” but this view is old fashioned. It is based on the 18th century “economics of scarcity” worldview, that while still dominant in the world, is changing.

What I believe is foreshadowed by the rise of blogs, as well as the oft mocked “hipster culture” is that once our (earth humans) ability to produce exceeds our ability to consume, then old ideas of “better/worse” and “exclusive/common” will cease to be relevant. When everything is equally available (due to increased efficiency in production, distribution, etc.) then all choices become only a matter of taste. In this theoretical (though not far) future, the availability and cost of a lugged steel bike is virtually identical to that of a carbon one. I choose lugs, Casey chooses lugs, and we are friends and ride together. Others choose plastic and ride with people who make the same choices. Communities become based on groups of people making similar choices – out of the infinite variety available. My central argument is that these communities are more “natural” than what exists today, which is based on the scarcity principle (big houses are scarce so only rich people have them – but being with other rich people is not a community forming function).

I think that this point of view extends from bikes to clothes, music, and pretty much all consumer products. Truly hand made things, where art and craftsmanship is involved will still have value, even more so than now. But those things will represent a statistically insignificant percentage of the total. The thing is, the world is moving this way whether we like it or not. While the increased sterility of the objects with which we all must interact is not exactly a romantic notion, the fact that the plainness and sameness is a byproduct of efficiencies that are allowing people (for the first time ever!) to exist at the lowest end of the scarcity food chain and still have food, acceptable housing, access to the mainstream flow of information, and yes - quality mass produced bikes, is something which we should all support.