Amerika

There was some bloviation about Microsoft’s decision to open retail stores, just like Apple (and before them Gateway, and before them, Tandy) had:

MSFT will never be as hip and cool as Apple.

Of course, since they aren’t thinking of outside appearance, they’ll also be more stable and realistic than Apple.

This is why they’re still #1 despite Apple’s thirty years of trying to unseat them.

The hipster thinks from outside appearance. “How will this look to the group?” The hipster evolved under conditions in which finding the biggest cross-section of a group the quickest determined success; the mob rules.

The scientist, philosopher or historian thinks from the inside out, because they recognize the importance of context. “What parts of this interact with the world around it to be produce a sustaining, cyclic process?” They think in terms of how patterns re-appear because they generate their own sustenance from their environment.

Guess which one wins in the short term, always? The hipster. He or she talks a good game, always seems to have some new innovative way of approaching the problem, and socializes easily. If you need to get 500 people to dance to techno or burn a witch, the hipster’s your man.

Guess which one wins in the long term, always?

Tags: hipsters