#400: The Tyranny of Convenience

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 27 April 2018

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Modern life has given us lots of conveniences. With a tap of your smartphone screen, and without leaving the house, you can order a car to your door or a hot dinner, or even replenish your toilet paper supply. Right now, you’re listening to this podcast how and when you want to. Yes, life is good in the 21st century. But what if there’s such a thing as too much convenience? What if it's actually enslaving us in some strange way? That’s what my guest today argues. His name is Tim Wu, he’s a professor of law at Columbia Law School and the author of several books, including "The Attention Merchants." Today on the show, Tim and I discuss the tyranny of convenience. We begin with a brief history of convenience, discussing how it became a driving force in the economy in the late 19th century and how Tim believes we’re at the beginning of a second convenience revolution. We then discuss how convenience can make us feel more free and unique, but actually limits our freedom and makes us like everyone else. Tim then shares ideas on how to inject some healthy inconvenience in your life for more happiness, freedom, and fulfillment. Get the full show notes at aom.is/convenience.

Transcript

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0:00.0	[♪ INTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪
0:13.9	Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of the Manliness Podcast.
0:18.1	Modern life has given us a lot of convenience.
0:21.1	With the tap of our smartphone screen, and without ever leaving our house, we can order
0:24.3	a car to our door or a hot dinner, or even replenish our toilet paper supply.
0:28.4	And right now, you're listening to this podcast, How and When You Want To.
0:32.1	Yes, life is good in the 21st century.
0:34.6	But what if there's such a thing as too much convenience?
0:37.3	What if it's actually enslaving us in some strange way?
0:40.2	Well, that's what my guest day argues, and it's Tim Wu, his professor of law at Columbia
0:44.2	Law School, and the author several books including the Attention Regents.
0:47.2	And today on the show, Tim and I discuss the tyranny of convenience.
0:50.2	We begin with a brief history of convenience, discussing how it became a driving force in
0:54.0	the economy and in our culture in the late 19th century.
0:56.4	And how Tim believes we're at the beginning of a second convenience revolution.
0:59.9	He then discusses how convenience can make us feel more free and unique, but actually
1:03.3	limits our freedom and makes us like everyone else.
1:05.7	Tim then shares some ideas on how to inject some healthy inconvenience in your life for
1:09.3	more happiness, freedom, and fulfillment.
1:11.3	After the show's over, check out our show notes at aowm.ias slash convenience, and he
1:15.3	finally links to resources reading Delph Deeper into this topic.
1:18.1	And Tim joins me now via clearcast.io.
	...

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