Lottery logic makes consumers invest emotionally in others’ success

Evidence

Only one girl can draw the lucky ticket, only one man can win the prize, and if, mathematically, all have the same chance, yet this is so infinitesimal for each one that he or she will do best to write it off and rejoice in the other’s success, which might just as well have been his or hers, and somehow never is. — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 113

Categorization

• SEED: An article angle: how the ‘lottery mindset’ — winnowed hope rationed to one winner — pacifies modern audiences across media, gambling, and streaming-platform starmaking.
• XREF: connects to: Life insurance gained legitimacy by framing itself as family care rather than death gambling — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 355; Collective imagination, not individual gamblers, shapes our shared wagers on the future — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 552; Uncertain rewards generate more attention and attachment than guaranteed ones — Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac: With Other…, 194 (+1 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Life insurance gained legitimacy by framing itself as family care rather than death gambling — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 355; Collective imagination, not individual gamblers, shapes our shared wagers on the future — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 552; Uncertain rewards generate more attention and attachment than guaranteed ones — Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac: With Other…, 194 (+1 more)