Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by moosey 1649 days ago
A "command economy", or even "China", are still abstractions. Arguably, your points further prove mine.
1 comments

Really?

The whole point of a command economy is to have a central planning authority that oversees production of x tons of potatoes, y tons of steel and z T-34 tanks. They explicitly ignore abstract financial metrics like GDP and stock prices. They still ruined the environment.

Unless you're arguing that the mere existence of abstract concepts somehow degrades the environment, I don't see how this proves your point.

My point is, what does it serve to build tanks? If the goal is to protect "our nation", then we are serving the abstractions.

If you take a "command economy" and tell it to feed the people of the world, restore natural areas, shelter people... Then the abstractions serves real things.

If you tried to build a society that invested $0 into the military, you would be pummeled into the ground by an external aggressor.

Those tanks are serving the abstraction of survival.