I heard this quote recently in an episode of Parts Unknown, and it stuck with me:

“Is there a plan? Probably not. Only appetites.”

This was said in the context of describing modern-day China’s hyper-capitalist trappings, so my interpretation isn’t too far off, but it got me thinking: so much of what we want to see as a “plan” (see also “scheme”, “plot”, “conspiracy”, etc.) is really no more than the collective actions of a group of people who desire different but similar things.

Food. Clothing. Shelter. The approval of our peers and family. Agency.

And depending on our current lot in life, the quality of each of these things could be good enough, or it could be sky-high. This is not good or bad, it just is.

It’s too easy to blame the short-comings of the world on a shadowy cabal of powerful elites who have banded together to keep you down. And depending on your personal experiences, those elites could come either in the form of cold, Statist bureaucrats or greedy, blood-sucking plutocrats. Or both, or something in between.

But I’m afraid that Bourdain was probably right on the money. There is no plan and there is no conspiracy. There’s simply individuals and their appetites.

I heard this quote recently in an episode of Parts Unknown, and it stuck with me:

“Is there a plan? Probably not. Only appetites.”

This was said in the context of describing modern-day China’s hyper-capitalist trappings, so my interpretation isn’t too far off, but it got me thinking: so much of what we want to see as a “plan” (see also “scheme”, “plot”, “conspiracy”, etc.) is really no more than the collective actions of a group of people who desire different but similar things.

Food. Clothing. Shelter. The approval of our peers and family. Agency.

And depending on our current lot in life, the quality of each of these things could be good enough, or it could be sky-high. This is not good or bad, it just is.

It’s too easy to blame the short-comings of the world on a shadowy cabal of powerful elites who have banded together to keep you down. And depending on your personal experiences, those elites could come either in the form of cold, Statist bureaucrats or greedy, blood-sucking plutocrats. Or both, or something in between.

But I’m afraid that Bourdain was probably right on the money. There is no plan and there is no conspiracy. There’s simply individuals and their appetites.