something that is objectively unnecessary but gives comfort or at least the illusion of comfort
i think of it like the laws of diminishing returns
think of a shitbox $3,000 used car. assuming the engine is more or less running, you get like 80% of the benefits of a car
it gets you from point A -> B - the primary purpose of a car
then you spend another $10,000 for a $13,000 5~6 year old Toyota or something. now you have A/C, that gives you an extra few % benefits. You get a carplay so you have a nice little screen for a GPS, another few %. you get a key that unlocks your car, etc.
so you went from 80% to lets say 90%. but that base 80%, getting you from point A -> B hasn’t changed.
that extra $10,000 bought you 10% extra
then let’s say you spend another $100,000 for a $113,000 car
you get all the benefits of the previous cars, but you maybe can speed up a little faster. you have heated seats. you have a sport mode or something.
that extra $100,000 bought you another like 7% so now you’re at 97%
Luxury is that last 20%. The closer you wanna get to 100%, the more expensive each % costs. This is a status symbol
I agree with your example, but I disagree that the luxury cutoff is at 80%. For me it is at 90% in your example. A car that only mostly runs is a liability and may even end up costing more per year than the 90% one because of repairs. At least it is like that here in Norway.
you’re gonna tell me that a $5,000 bottle of wine is 200x better than a $25 bottle of wine? They’ve done many random taste tests and even the wine experts can’t always tell the difference.
the difference is the luxury. the garcon coming out and telling you about some fancy wine grown with special grapes in france. he pours it for you and your date. etc
illusion of comfort. the illusion is what is important.
sometimes there are differences. for example when you pay for an expensive supercar, it’s going to drive incredibly well. the money goes somewhere. but i think a large chunk is what i said, an illusion
No offense but i get an artist vibe off you. You got me thinking about the media, Artist, narcotics and crypto links. You can top it off with surveillance and psychological manipulation from the media.
Necessity, if you don’t need it to survive but it makes your feel good it’s a luxury, and those things change with time. Today a home Internet connection is nessicary to make it in the world, but 20 years ago it was a luxury and 30 years ago it was a novelty.
Scarcity, something in demand and not shared with others.
Stupid people.
You could do the job with less, but you’d grumble about it.
I think the shower in my current house is luxurious because it’s large enough that I can turn around without knocking things off the shower caddy.
