AKA: consumerism
The goal of a minimalist is to detach from material possessions.
It's a realization that who we are is not what we own.
In the end, material things mean little. Read the final words of Steve Jobs. The world of form is temporary, fleeting, and impermanent. Love on the other hand transcends form. Experiences we share with the ones we love is the most significant legacy we can leave behind.
The movie Fight Club inspired Mr. Robot. Both take a message
There's quote form Ellen Goodman:
"Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work, driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for, in order to get to a job that you need so you can pay for the clothes, car and the house that you leave empty all day in order to afford to live in it."
Fight Club's version:
"Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need."
Once I heard an even more potent version, which I was unable to relocate again, but I'll paraphrase:
"We drive to work in a car we don't own, to work at a job we hate, to work with people we despise, to pay for a house we're never at."
What's scary is how the entire American economy is built on consumerism. The largest companies in American depend on it. Is it any wonder that shopping has become America's favorite pastime? And while you might think staying out of the malls makes you immune to this, I ask: When was the last time you visited Amazon.com? Amazon is simply the virtual version of America's largest mall.
When Americans stop needless consuming, the world that the creators of Fight Club and Mr. Robot imagined will come true.
Even the work American has become synonymous with consumer. It's not something we should be proud of.