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by itfossil
557 days ago
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Interesting point. However the fact remains that even long before the rise of the technologies you cite, people with resources were hoarding wealth and lording it over those who lacked it. The core issue here, in my opinion, is actually human greed and the fact that in some people it simply cannot be sated, regardless of how much they manage to acquire. Capitalism attempts to harness that core flaw within our human nature rather than trying to suppress or curtail it. The followers of Capitalism effectively believe that empowering and legitimizing this greed will produce a form of collective well-being. Evidence of this can be seen in the a large variety of nonsensical theories that they have pushed over the years such as the infamous "trickle-down economics" theory. At some point, humanity has to grow beyond treating life like a game where we are all trying to put points on the board. In our current iteration of civilization, Capitalism provides the basis of the rules we play by and money is the metric by which we keep score. Kicking Capitalism to the curb would only be the first step to evolving beyond infantile obsession. If we don't manage to do this, we will all pay a collective price. The time to pay the piper will likely come sooner rather than later at the rate things seem to be going. P.S. I really appreciate this discussion, thank you for taking the time to engage! |
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True, but that is not a necessary situation, as some other tribes didn't even have a notion of private property and some societies such as the Amish have avoided that greed. Moreover, in more primitive times, it was much easier to overthrow warlords. And furthermore, hoarding wealth and resources still is somewhat dependent on technology (such as agriculture) if much more ancient a technology. The key is still that we need to take a hold of technology.
> At some point, humanity has to grow beyond treating life like a game where we are all trying to put points on the board.
I absolutely agree with that, and I do think that capitalism as it is today must go -- but so must technological society. You stated yourself that there is a greed component in humanity (perhaps a maladaptive instinct that works only in times of scarcity), and technology provides simply too seductive a source of superiority for it to be compatible with human beings.
> Capitalism to the curb would only be the first step to evolving beyond infantile obsession.
I agree with that, except what is the way to do that when 95% of people still operate within capitalism, and will continue to do so because their existence depends on it and they have no other way to survive? It's got to be a dismantling of technology in a highly strategic way.
> P.S. I really appreciate this discussion, thank you for taking the time to engage!
You are welcome. A lot of people here won't be as sympathetic to what you write but don't get too discouraged. That's just because most humans find it too cognitively dissonant to ponder the intense and systemic violence of modern capitalism and technological society. That's especially true for many technophiles who not only obtain a high degree of intellectual satisfaction from creating technologies that fundamentally promote inequality, but also because technology is an emotional replacement for a lack of community and relationship for many.