[2021-06-28] Thinking in Ecology
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A hunch I had this morning: when thinking about the publishing
business, it may be a useful heuristic to think in ecological terms.
We have always talked about niches and predatory agents/publishers.
There are also material and energy flows, strategies, and
equilibriums.
[2021-06-28] The diminishing middle-class?
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I heard today that a restaurant my ex-colleagues used to frequent, the
Koyama, has concluded its operation at Indigo, a shopping mall not far
from the company I used to work for.
The COVID-19 pandemic may have destroyed more than people's health.
After a whole year locked up at home it can be difficult to pick up
the habit of going shopping again. And people are less willing to buy
things in general.
In various shopping malls I am witnessing the replacement of premium
brands by mass ones. Recently it is the low-end consumer business
getting investments. My observation could be very biased, but the
media is not boasting exquisite products nowadays either.
For bookstores, the trend is even more worrying. The cost of books is
rising, but fewer and fewer people are interested in those great but
expensive books. Instead, they are buying more pulp books. Pulp books
are good, but when the market could no longer support expensive books,
which are usually where significant ideas are expressed, the society
could be in trouble.
