Is bigger, better?
In a comment from 
Only in America?
Compared to Finland, Australia is a place that has wide roads. But over the last decade, I have been reading how American trucks have been taking over, and seen pictures of them not fitting on the roads. Parking them must be a nightmare. I have seen a couple around the city here and they are ridiculously impractical.
To each their own.
I think that the "bigger is better" attitude reminiscent of the US speaks to the mindset where more is better also. And this ties heavily into the massive consumer mentality that sees 5% of the world's population consuming 30% of the world's resources. I don't see this as success, I see it as failure, because it indicates wastage and a disregard for others. It is an act of selfishness.
I want more, no matter the impact on others.
Yet, it is this very attitude that has become the encouraged standard and has led us to where we are today, with a society that is falling apart, rampant physical and mental health issues, violence, polarisation and war. These among many other things, are all tied into the mechanism of always more.
Yet, most people don't think about what happens in an "always more" world, because compounding growth very quickly makes the entire system unsustainable. For instance, if a company is expected to increase profit by 10% each year, it needs to double its growth every 7 years or so. If simultaneously people are expected to double their growth by 10% each year, what happens? And this is part of the reason why wage growth has been massively outstripped by profit growth, because in order for the companies to keep profiting, they have to keep taking more and more from people. And since 2000 or so, profits have skyrocketed, while wages have remained comparatively stagnant.
And this is just the start of the trend, because it is going to get increasingly worse as corporations find new ways to take more from the economic pie, while returning less to employees or in goods and service value. This leads to a widening wealth gap that will increasingly see more and more people drop away from the top, while the top speeds off into the stratosphere. A top that will include fewer and fewer people.
And this is where I think it might get interesting in the US, because as the middle and upper middle fall increasingly away from the top, their mindset of "always more, always bigger" becomes increasingly difficult to maintain, and this leads to an increase in a host of other social problems - some of which we are already seeing now, over the last couple decades.
The problem is that we are wired to want more as a species, without the sense to process what it is we need in order to grow sustainably. The gratification of getting more that quickly dissipates to wanting more again, is like a kid (or an adult) eating candy until they feel sick, look sick, and are unable to function. And this is fast where we are approaching, where we as a society are unable to function. And I suggest those who think otherwise based on their own surroundings and experience, go for a walk through some of the poorer parts of their city and take a look around. Those areas and number of locations are expanding.
While the houses, holiday homes and yachts get larger and fancier, the lives of everyday people keeps on contracting, with opportunities disappearing. This gap is further highlighted by the media, social platforms, and ultimately, people are going to feel it. The response is predictable, because people have felt oppressed in the past and it always leads to the same outcome - more violence.
Is this humanity winning?
Taraz
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