I’ve been interested in the broad philosophical distinction between what things are and what things feel like. I’ve pointed this up across a number of different contexts in particular the influence such a distinction might have on relationships, social values and behaviour.

In this regard, I’m grateful to Zuboff and Maxmin in their excellent book, The Support Economy, for identifying the need to move from product to process in the consumer world, specifically how businesses treat their customers. The authors would like to see an emphasis on not so much what a product is but on what the experience of buying and using that product actually feels like. This new attitude, they argue, needs to take into account the interface with producers, retailers, service providers etc. and the responsibilities they would have in their dealings with the individual.

They also talk of the shift from transaction value to relationship value. In doing this they put serious flesh on the bones of the notions I have played around with in these writings about the pressing need for relationship in general to play a greater part in understanding how lives are lived. The Support Economy argues for this imperative in the context of consumerism and shows how it might be possible, indeed necessary, in the emerging culture.

My sense is that the transition from is to feels like is the mark of enlightenment and represents progress. In other words it represents a development from the material toward the spiritual.