Why Buy the Second...

So now we've covered the true essentials, what do we spend on beyond that core?

I think the next thing we tend to lump into the buying equation, are what I call societal needs. These are the items that allow you to function in society, whatever that society might be. In most of the U.S. one could argue that cars are the next level of need. You don't absolutely need a car, but as my experiment in carfree life, it does quash your effectiveness tremendously. But even cars run the gamut beyond simple transportation, which I'll explore there.

Other things that you might need to function as part of society that are not strictly necessary include telephone, perhaps internet, and maybe a computer. Not being connected definitely cuts you off from the rest of the world. Whatever your local world might be. It's sort of like the people who live on the ground in "Batman Begins", you're living but your out of most pictures. And as they say, with most people it's out of sight, out of mind. Sadly that's true. I remember going back for my 10 year reunion and seeing the names of those classmates no longer with us, and a chill of recognition hit me with some of the names.

If a person falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does anyone care.

So we buy to exist apart, and then we buy to exist together. Our technology goods, let us exist together apart more easily now. The simplest way to drive this buy is to obsolete one form of communication for another.