That time Joshua Bell played at the Washington DC metro station

DonZabu

And nobody stopped to listen, and people were all, "Nobody stops to hear the beauty around them, man. People pay $200 to see this guy in concert," etc.

This was 8 AM on a Friday. These people had jobs to get to, appointments to meet. If these people showed up an hour late because they stopped to listen to a violin player in the station, they'd be in deep shit, even if their bosses bought that it was Joshua Bell they were stopping for.

Meanwhile, if I spend $200 and go to a Joshua Bell recital, it'll be when I have an evening to kill, probably on the weekend. Hell, even if I stop to listen to a violin player in the park or something, it's because I've got the afternoon free to wander around said park.

I guarantee you ten times more people would've stopped to listen if they'd conducted this 'experiment' later on in the day, or on a Saturday or Sunday as opposed to Friday morning.

Ironweaver

Perhaps what you say was the point of the entire performance.

MadassAlex

Both excellent points, really. 

Collectively, we're a society that's pretty afraid to take a moment out. We're afraid of losing jobs and grades; we have to be places at very precise times or beforehand; we suck up to our superiors and every few months there's a new reason for the world to end. 

We're pretty highly strung is what I'm saying. 

But I bet if you asked just about anyone, they'd have things they value over money and status. Those very same people will be working/going to school nine-to-five, five days a week. Our economic machine makes us afraid to be what we really want to be, and many people face a future of wage slavery or poverty. Many of us face a choice between being a cog in the machine and shooting for what we really, actually want. 

I've noticed a trend, albeit anecdotally. It seems to me that richer societies thrive on fear, order and economic competition. While there is doubtless some benefit to everyone, it rewards the strong, but without universal acknowledgement of merit -- that is, you have to be strong at the things the society in question values economically. But societies without such an emphasis on wealth and competition, while collectively weaker in terms of social leverage, trade and military, develop cultures that thrive more heavily on the freedom of the individual. This is where one's responsibility is less to a body of leadership, but to themselves and the people immediately around them.

I think this might be one reason why less wealthy nations sometimes actually boast strong levels of population contentment. When you work with people you like, in reasonably comfortable conditions, doing work that is directly relevant to your local community, it's much easier to look back on a day and call it productive and feel like you've done something worthwhile. But when you're working for a large business where you seldom speak to the leaders and have no personal investment in the outcome, it's much more difficult to find any value in your day beyond the paycheck. The paycheck that makes you get up early in the morning and go home late in the afternoon because, if you don't, it'll be gone. But a job that makes you want to get up early and go home late because you like your work, or because you feel as though there's a lot of relevance in what you're doing? Much stronger. 

I think we've set up a lot of fantasy and distanced ourselves from reality quite a lot by this stage. We no longer work by rules of mutual survival, comraderie or togetherness, but instead adhere to an abstract system of finance that determines whether we're successful or not, and very few people actually understand this system to completeness. Our economic strength has no doubt produced some fantastic advances, particularly in the fields of medicine and science, but I'm not ultimately convinced that the path we're going down is that strong. We don't need to live in a world of elves and dragons to exist within a fantasy -- ours is one of numbers, abstractions and tilted rules. 

In short, I'm saying that our commitment to abstraction is robbing us of really experiencing life. 

Alkthash

I've noticed a trend, albeit anecdotally. It seems to me that richer societies thrive on fear, order and economic competition. While there is doubtless some benefit to everyone, it rewards the strong, but without universal acknowledgement of merit -- that is, you have to be strong at the things the society in question values economically. But societies without such an emphasis on wealth and competition, while collectively weaker in terms of social leverage, trade and military, develop cultures that thrive more heavily on the freedom of the individual. This is where one's responsibility is less to a body of leadership, but to themselves and the people immediately around them.

Incidentally that right there is a big part of the reason I've decided to become a nurse. The idea of just working for some company without any direct result I can point out at the end of the day would just drive me insane. I'd rather have a job that lets me help the people directly in front of me, even if it isn't exactly the most lucrative job in the world. Or even pleasant, because really nurses deal with a lot of crap.

Collectively, we're a society that's pretty afraid to take a moment out. We're afraid of losing jobs and grades; we have to be places at very precise times or beforehand; we suck up to our superiors and every few months there's a new reason for the world to end. 

Heck, I'd say that mentality extends even past work/school. Most people in developed countries tend to have their time occupied by obligations to their family, religion, friends or some sort of club they belong to. It's hard to find people who have what society considers a successful life able to put time alone for themselves on a regular basis. 

Ponicalica

Relevant.