I just realized that Paul Graham's "Make something people want" can be flipped into "Make people want something", which is a better description of many businesses that make money despite creating zero or negative value to society. For example, you can sell something for $1 that gives people $2 in immediate value but also sneakily gives them $3 worth of desire to buy otherwise useless stuff from you. Or you can advertise to create desire where it didn't exist, leading to negative value for everyone who saw your ad but didn't buy your product. Or you can give away your product for free and then charge for the antidote.
This seems like a big loophole in markets which has no market-based solution. It also helps explain why rich people and countries aren't proportionally happier than poor ones, if they are mostly paying to make manufactured pains go away. People's criteria for happiness are too easily raised by what they buy, see or think, but hardly anyone pushes back against that.
My previous thoughts on this topic: 1, 2, 3, 4. I feel like the ideas are coming together into something bigger, but can't put a finger on it yet.
If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post, then it goes here.
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