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The Impulse Society: America In The Age Of Instant Gratification (2014)

by Paul Roberts(Favorite Author)

3.53 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1608198146 (ISBN13: 9781608198146)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Bloomsbury USA

review 1: "Markets can remain irrational a lot longer than you and I can remain solvent."This John Maynard Keynes quote is perhaps my favorite line from this incredibly persuasive book. Its central point: that a market and country driven purely by the wants of its millions of consumers will succeed in the long term only if those wants are tempered by support for long-term strategies. The "impulse" to consume and invest purely based on immediate gratification demonstrates the similarly asks whether growth is really the best way to measure economic healthprofit changes the way technological medical resources are allocatedmerging of market, self through technologyintertemporal choicesmourning social control: our empowerment provides more opportunity than can be realistically assessedem... morepowerment leads us to avoid adversity"financialization" of every other sectorwhy does the share price come from the supply of shares? isn't it supposed to reflect a valuation of the company? so when "buybacks" occur, isn't this just gaming the system?
review 2: This was a great intellectual read that forewarns the reader of the perils found in entertainment based technology along the lines of books such as: “Amusing ourselves to death” by Postman and “The Assault on Reason” by Gore and “The Age of American Unreason” by Jacoby. There are books throughout the recent decades that’ run through the wilderness’ like John the Baptist decrying out society’s fall into mindless decadency driven primarily by the advancement in entertainment based technology. I agree with several points in this book. Below is a list of summarized points: 1.Increased dependency on computers for social interaction detracts from our ability to limit selfish motivators and support larger social goals. We move away from the social norms that are required for a strong developing society toward stagnate, anti-social, society because we don’t need to work together for survival and security. 2.Our focus on immediate gratification eliminates our ability to pursue long-term improvements and significant technological advances. We begin to settle for simple cosmetic improvements over truly innovative changes that impact serious issues like fuel alternatives or declining educational systems.3.Finally, the very motives that created a highly competitive economic driven market set the course for a product centered management that consistently eliminate worker rights. These are problems present in every society and require pragmatic intellectuals/politicians that have the drive needed to redirect our citizens toward social reforms. Overall the book was very informative and provides some interesting solutions to the problems it presents. There are times where the author shows a little political bias explaining the emotionally focused conservative right over the very pragmatic liberal left. Outside of this slight slant, the book shows a fair critical thinking process and very enjoyable format. less

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