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by emswift 41 days ago
What?

I’d love to be able to borrow a sewing machine, tools, etc. I live in a small flat and I don’t need permanent ownership of those things. They spend 99.5% of the time sat taking up space. What good is that? For a lot of machines it’s not good to leave them idle, or sat in a shed collecting mould and rust.
1 comments
monssooon 41 days ago
It is exactly what the WeF meant too. The opposite world is one where we can own what we want at any point in time, kinda like in the past. They say that is unsustainabl... I just disagree-I think it would be great if each generation would be better of than the last.. You are happy in your tiny flat not owning that much... I'm not disputing that. I just say that is what the wef predicted would happen. That is all. I'm glad you at happy like that... If you continue reading Idas Aukens prophecy, she goes on to talk about a society outside of the happy own-nothing-living where people live a different life... I just hope there will be room for both.
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Anamon 40 days ago
I think it makes a world of a difference who owns the stuff people only borrow. This article is about public libraries, socially funded through a democratic will to do so, to ensure the broadest and most affordable access to anyone, particularly those who couldn't otherwise afford to buy or rent these things. Very similar to informal pools of people lending each other stuff to save money.

The quote you're referring to, or at least that interpretation of it, as I understand it, is about for-profit entities restricting ownership by only renting out their products, maximizing the amount of money they can extract.

Those seem like two almost polar opposites. I'd bet the "owning class" is not very happy about the existence of libraries. (See, for example, Hachette, Wiley, Harper Collins, Penguin Random House & Co.'s legal efforts to get rid of them.)

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monssooon 35 days ago
The idea I was referring to is that of the great reset.

I don't disagree that it is great that poor people can borrow things.

But it scares me that people see it as an ideal.

It is a symptom of acceptance of a poorer quality of life. It is fine that individuals pursue minimalism and so on but our next generation should not be forced to grow up in that mentality.

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