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{"text":[[{"start":5.4,"text":"The cold war was a contest between two superpowers, two philosophies — and two assault rifles. The Soviet-made AK-47 was one. It was reliable, if basic. The American M16, built later, was more accurate. But its very sophistication meant that more things could go wrong with it. In Vietnam’s jungle heat, it was liable to jam mid-battle, which is the last thing you want. The guns became metaphors for the ideologies that produced them: communism’s focus on the high minimum, capitalism’s quest for excellence."}],[{"start":37.65,"text":"Of these two principles, which makes for the better life? Is it the floor or the ceiling that we should prioritise?"}],[{"start":44.25,"text":"The intellectual trend seems obvious. After the cold war, the ceiling ruled for a long time. Thanks to trade and just-in-time manufacturing, consumers had access to a retail cornucopia that was once the preserve of the few. This system was optimal but not, it turns out, robust. A rogue Russia, a protectionist US or just a blocked-off shipping lane in the Gulf is enough to scramble people’s lives. Hence the new fashion for domestic industrial production or at least friendshoring, “just-in-case”. The world is choosing redundancies and inefficiencies. A more solid but perhaps less miraculous future beckons."}],[{"start":83.45,"text":"This obsession with the floor is even more extreme in other fields. In modern entertainment, almost nothing is total rubbish. A song or TV series will have a minimum of polish and a recognisable structure. Some of this is down to technological progress: the worst studio kit now is quite good. The rest is the result of corporate risk-aversion in an ultra-competitive market. If the audience can stream things from around the world, a content platform can’t afford to empower the kind of eccentric artist who might make a dud (or a masterwork). The captive audiences of the pre-streaming age perversely allowed creators to shoot for the ceiling."}],[{"start":null,"text":"
Which makes for a better life: a high minimum or the quest for excellence?
"}],[{"start":122.80000000000001,"text":"Even in football, the most expressive of sports, I have lived to see the floor become the priority. The game is producing fewer transcendent individual talents and more consistent, well-rounded Declan Rice sorts. For the World Cup, England have left their two or three mercurial geniuses at home and picked a squad of high-minimum performers instead. Arsenal won the Premier League because their worst player is better than Manchester City’s worst player. The club’s decision to maximise the minimum paid off, even as it underwhelmed neutrals."}],[{"start":158.9,"text":"A high ceiling is an unconscionable risk, it seems. This is even borne out in the life of nation states. Canada is often called boring from south of the border. Australia is patronised for achieving a sort of mindless comfort. Neither has a London or a Paris, say the knockers. On the other hand, the seventh-best city in each country is rather nice. There are countries with twice the population that could not claim the same. In 2032, Brisbane will be the third Australian host of the Olympic Games. You can imagine Perth becoming the fourth one day. It is harder to picture Toulouse or Leeds getting the honour. "}],[{"start":193.85000000000002,"text":"And what of it? Well, I observe in passing that Canada and Australia have so far avoided the extreme political dysfunction of some western democracies. A true alpha city — belonging to the world, not the nation — is a glorious thing to have. It is also a focal point for domestic resentment. “Tall poppy syndrome” is irrational, but to be reckoned with."}],[{"start":216.90000000000003,"text":"Even at the level of the individual mind, there is a case for the floor. In what is turning out to be a vintage year, I should be high-fiving strangers and breaking out into the Charleston at random intervals. Instead, I continue to go through life in more or less one mood, which is somewhere around seven on a 10-point scale. To the extent that we could ever choose our own temperaments, I doubt I would put up with periodic dips into two or three in order to savour the occasional nine or 10. The minimum matters. I just never expected the world, in sector after sector, to make the same arid choice. "}],[{"start":260.00000000000006,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1780191968_7778.mp3"}