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Just food for thought... Could you even imagine the world without us? Sometime people can look down upon us and what we do, but we are a HUGE necessity to our world! How much litter would be everywhere? How much would items cost to buy cause metal prices would be through the roof.... What else would the world be like without us?
there would be garbage everywhere!!
Great topic -- a very rich vein of ideas here that touches on issues such as:
1) neuroscience and pyschology
2) sociology
3) environmental science and biology
Scrappers -- Metal/electronic scrappers in particular -- are in a sense a form of metal fungi -- metal mushrooms.
And that association, between scrapping and decomposition, begins to unravel an aspect of the social disapproval -- even though, as you point out, scrapping is central to alleviating issues of resource scarcity and pollution.
Let's first unpack the idea of social disapproval:
Many people look down on scrapping -- and I think there's an unconscious neurological basis for the disapproval. Humans are at some level wired to fear, avoid, and show revulsion toward issues relating to end-of-life and decomposition -- and the wiring is so fundamental and so powerful it stretches beyond human biology and envelopes inanimate objects too. At the same time, humans are inclined to favor the polar opposite: growth and construction. This fundamental social programming is evident everywhere:
It's the focus of virtually all media (television, radio, internet, newsprint etc.) displaying favorable associations between economic growth, construction, and manufacturing. All of these words -- growth, construction, and manufacturing -- have a common underlying thread: An emphasis on building as opposed to decomposition. The media glorifies youth and growth -- youthful beauty -- at the same time it shuns age and decline. Note, for example, that most Hollywood actresses' careers are over by their mid-late 30s. The spotlight shifts to the newest 20-something phenomenon at the first sign of wear and tear -- decomposition and decline. Society has built immense industries dedicated largely to shielding productive youth from evidence of their inevitable age and decline. Witness the old age home and the assisted living complexes that cordon off the elderly and the faltering into carefully partitioned communities -- largely hidden from view -- out of sight, out of mind.
Why is that?
Why does society engage in this perplexing behavior?
Very primal fears of death. Revulsion of decomposition. This is a very active area of research -- the neurochemistry and neurobiology of revulsion. The New York Times recently published an article summarizing some of the new findings. -- Title:
Survival’s Ick Factor
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/24/sc...pagewanted=all
NPR had a recent radio broadcast on the topic of fungi, and it touched on issues of social disapproval regarding decomposition.
Title: The Man Who Studies The Fungus Among Us
http://www.npr.org/2012/01/18/145339...ungus-among-us
The professor of mycology -- Nicholas Money -- eloquently elaborated on why decomposition is so important. Without it, a finite planet would quickly run out of resources.
And IMO, fungi, whether it be biological fungi , or scrappers (metal fungi - metal mushrooms) play an equally important role in limiting the consequences of resource scarcity.
We live on a finite planet with 7 billion people projected to reach 10 billion by around 2030. The end of the cold war released billions of new capitalists from the bondage of communism -- and they're all striving for the good life, competing for resources.
In this context, scrappers are, IMO, at the leading edge of movement that will define our lifetimes -- the repurposing and upcycling and recycling of the consumer products that surround us. Eventually, as resource constraints bite harder, I think we'll one day begin to mine our landfills.
Social Disapproval now -- Social Norm tomorrow. It's immensely enjoyable to be part of something -- an endeavor -- that has a real future.
Great post EM. Lots of good points there.
What would a world without scrapping look like?
The world of Wall-E!
http://www.cheatcc.com/imagesx360/walle_00b.jpg
EM you have summed up this topic beautifully.
LMAO - No wait!! ROLLING ON THE FLOOR - LAUGHING MY ASS OFF!!!! At the Wall-E Post =) Thanks!
Note the embedded symbolism in a flagship of elite opinion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTEIGtHXOT4
IMO, It misses the mark by a long shot in its message to the managerial class, but it has a beauty that sticks with me.
It is simple, without "recyclers", there would be MUCH, MUCH more landfills every where, as there as yet to be a metal (ferrous and non ferrous) that is bio degradable, our economy would be in more peril then it is right now, because instead of being able to use recycled metals for things, companies and the government would have to produced new, fresh stuff, instead of using recycled product.
Of course, this is all speculation. There is no real way of knowing what the world would be like with scrappers aka recyclers, until that ever happens. Luckily for us, large and medium corporations see a value in the stuff, and make tons of money themselves recycling everything that they can get their hands on, so as long as they stay in business, then so will we.
Personally this hits home for me. Just the fact of the struggles we have faced being unemployed since 2008. Thank the Lord for Scrapping, Picking and the internet =)
I definitely can relate to that. The last couple of "jobs" that I had, all ended in "lay offs"....one boss actually had the ba*** to tell me the truth, that the Founder/President of the company made a BAD financial decision, and in turn had to get rid of over a 3rd of his business after that.Quote:
Originally Posted by BiggerHammer
So after this happened 3 times, I told my wife, that I was tired of the "lay offs" and that regardless of the reason, most employers will tell others other stuff to make it look bad on you. Not only that, I didn't feel like dealing with it for a fourth time.
So, I told my wife that I was going back to something where I was in CHARGE and could decide how much I made, how my employees and customers were treated, and that I could once again control our destiny.
I will be the first to admit, that it is not always happy times running any business, but I will always prefer working for myself, then a BOSS anytime!