Interview with a Cynic
Ancient observations on consumerism and overconsumption
You may noticed that we live in a world of extreme consumerism, where economists are finally beginning to take seriously the problem posed by so-called “externalities,” that is the costs and deleterious effects associated with the production of human goods. There is much talk, nowadays, of growing food locally because of the environmental degradation caused by global trade. And we still struggle to recognize and ameliorate the suffering of countless human beings that are being exploited so that we can have our mostly useless stuff delivered at our doorstep, pronto.
And yet, none of this is new. Such problems were certainly understood by an anonymous ancient writer known as Pseudo-Lucian, because he was the actual author of some of the writings historically attributed to Lucian of Samosata (125-after 180 CE).
Lucian himself was a fascinating fellow. He was a Hellenized Syrian and made his living as an itinerant teacher and a satirist. He made fun of pretentious people and public figures, as well as of belief in tall tales and superstitions. He is credited with writing the first science fiction story, A True Story, which features travel to space, aliens, and interplanetary warfare. Lucian inspired writers through the centuries, including Thomas More, François…
