Let me start with a fundamental observation: most people don’t know what they want unless they see it in context. We don’t know what kind of racing bike we want–until we see a champ in the Tour de France ratcheting the gears on a particular model. We don’t know what kind of speakers system we like–until we hear a set of speakers that sounds better than the previous one. We don’t even know what we want to do with our lives–until we find a relative or a friend who is doing just what we think we should be doing. Everything is relative, and that’s the point.

… we live simultaneously in two different worlds–cone where social norms prevail, and the other where market norms make the rules. The social norms include the friendly requests that people make of one another. Could you help me move this couch?…The second world, the one governed by market norms, is very different. There’s nothing warm and fuzzy about it. The exchanges are sharp-edged: wages, prices, rents, interest and costs-and-benefits.