On automatism and the escape from freedom

Abstract

Although the dynamic between production and consumption represents human activity where its «automaticity» is best expressed, economic benefit is a factor that hinders the possibility of consciousness. In this sense, consumption is not a "purpose" but the ideal "means" to achieve it. Although the position that the economic «procedure» has acquired (understood as a civilizing «purpose») has perfected the automatism and predictability of the behavior of human beings, it has also diminished some of its superior functions such as imagination or creative freedom; hence the difficulty in responding to certain environmental pressures.