If we accept the definitions of prolific (producing fruit, offspring, etc. in abundance, or producing constant or successful results) and prolix (so unnecessarily long as to be boring), then we must recognize that, based on present publications, quality as a concept is looking more prolix than prolific—and therefore worryingly gloomy.

Let’s start with the publishing business itself. The once-common perspective that a big book is a big evil, even when published in parts, has long been forgotten. Writers publish 500-page books every year and long articles every week. I wonder how they can. It puts a dizzying spin on the term “think tank,” both a prolific and prolix one. In sheer volume alone, the quality of what gets published can only be poor.

It’s the same with any consumer-oriented business, busily developing consumer-oriented products (not to be confused with consumer-oriented “processes,” which are mainly an ISO invention). Cars, domestic appliances, garments, houses, foodstuffs, vacations—we are overwhelmed by our inexhaustible and exhausting choices. So much is offered that we’ve become bored with the feast and suspicious of its value.

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