All the things we don't need

Further to my previous post, I've been wondering about all the things we don't actually need.

Many years ago, I had a student at a language school who couldn't understand the point of a picture. Why put a picture, painting or photo on a wall to look at it? No point.

So besides not needing shops any more, we could simplify our lives much, much more.

Let's see.

If art can be seen as serving no useful purpose, we can get rid of art shops, picture framers, museums and art galleries.

We don't need fashion. We could all wear the same uniform. Along the lines of what the Chinese wore in the past: the zhongshan suit, also known as the Mao suit. No need for different colours, no changing fashion, no new styles - ever. No accessories either. Bracelets, rings, earrings, necklaces, brooches are simply totally unnecessary. What are they good for? We don't need them. Just like we don't need shops, right?

We certainly don't need alcohol or cigarettes. But then again, we don't need all the different kinds of tea, coffee, fruit juices and soft drinks. What's wrong with water? That was good enough for primitive peoples and these days, with water treatment plants, plain tap water should be enough for us, too.

We need sustenance, but do we actually need more than 300 different kinds of cheese? Do we need more than one sort of cheese? Do we need cheese at all? Or bread? Or cakes? Or sweets? Or even meat, fish and eggs? Surely, all we need are some protein shakes and - if you really want to chew on something - some oat bars. The kind of stuff you can buy at gyms.

This would mean we don't need kitchens. No more cookers, fridges, freezers and dishwashers or even cupboards for all the crockery and drawers for cutlery, just a small sink for getting the water for our shakes and washing up our cups afterwards. Dinner parties will be a lot easier. No more sitting at a dining table, just chill out on the sofa with a shake each. Think of all the planning that will get rid of.

We don't really need to go on holiday anywhere. Holidays are a relatively new thing for many people and unknown to billions of people all around the world today. People who live a simple life in the rain forests around the world don't feel the need to go anywhere on a day trip or step on a plane to walk around another country. A hundred years ago, plenty of people in Europe never left their village - unless it was to fight in a war. We can, therefore, stay at home and if we want to see something of another country, we have google maps and videos - all online.

Homes can become much smaller as there we have a lot fewer possessions. No books, no kitchenware, no piles of clothing, no dining tables or chairs - rents will be lower, then, right?

The next time someone says "we don't need that", think about all this.