Christopher S. Penn's Awaken Your Superhero - Latest Comments in Micro?

Re: Micro?

Daniel Johnson, Jr. — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:56:55 -0000

Chris, it's the same thing with superlatives and other adjectives used to describe the greatness of something. To wit: cool, neat, awesome, phenomenal, incredible, unique. The more these words are used to describe things, the less we tend to see what the words were really intended to mean.

I understand why we use these words: to draw attention to something that we may not otherwise have paid attention to. But over time, just like the words micro, new, and social in your post, these words are losing their meaning and are becoming trite.

Just some thoughts. Awesome thoughts, in my own opinion. ;)

Re: Micro?

olivia — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:32:17 -0000

Micro consumimg in this crisis time!At least If we micro consume and micro pollute, there will be a micro global warming, which is not that bad for us and our childern...

Re: Micro?

Whitney — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:27:01 -0000

@Ari- what about just economics- micro and macro are part of a larger picture, and you can't have one without the other.

Re: Micro?

Whitney — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:25:39 -0000

Ah yes, and after the recovery (ha) it will become Macro everything.

Too narrow a focus, you lose the big picture. Too Broad a focus, you lose the detail. We all have to master the art of nuance and shifting focus to maintain clarity of perspective.

Re: Micro?

Mariana_Evica — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 08:54:34 -0000

I think you're probably right here, Chris. These are new words for things that already have names, in many cases. Remember "niche marketing"? It's really just marketing. All these pre-fixes (new, social, micro, hyper, etc.) will fall away on their own as the "new" methods become regarded simply as "methods".

Re: Micro?

Ari Herzog — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 23:00:26 -0000

Inspirational thoughts as always, Chris, but sticking to the financial beat, what of microeconomics? Eliminate micro and what do you have? How to distinguish from macroeconomics?