Efficiency, in Tension with Artfulness
Efficiency is the wrong criterion to raise a child or enjoy life. The things that delight us the most need not be efficient. No one hungers for an efficient party. We may argue for efficiency-of-ways saying it's needed to make time for the things we care for the most. Efficiency serves the purpose of fitting more happening into your life, The Story that Matters. But when all of your doings become efficient — when you live the most efficient version of every experience — you're missing out.
Efficiency often means pre-processed, mass-produced, delivered at scale, friction-free, low commitment, transactional, self-motivated, quick-and-easy. Efficiency deprives Happening of artfulness, it forecloses on potential beauty by draining aesthetic potential.
When a profit-motivated entity releases a new way-of-doing they change the solution space where you make your choices. When they unleash a new way-of-achieving fate X or outcome Y, the context in which your decisions happen is altered. You may not be in full agreement with the new ways proposed, but simply by changing the space, something about the way you assess value is changed too.
How? Trade-offs and opportunity costs change. Weaknesses are seduced. Emergent pressures are exerted on you and your decision. If hard to overcome, you may feel inclined to adopt the new way, for peace of mind. Facebook, Uber, Google, Amazon. Don't want to use them? Fine, but be prepared to endure the consequences. The invitation to connect with everyone, the invitation to take a car instead of subway, the invitation to look up every question that comes to mind, the invitation to buy without touching, of shopping without interfacing with another person.
✎ Connection to