[hariseldom]

> I used to want to do many things. Make great art, build great machines, solve important issues. Maybe our greatest gift to the world is to do as little as possible. To look at the birds, feel the wind and the water in our own hands, and ... nothing more. Eat when we are hungry, laugh when we are happy, cry when we are empty. And maybe that is the greatest gift to ourselves as well.

This is not always true, it depends on who you are. If you are an employee at Meta, or work for Philip Morris, you'd certainly do more good for the world by doing almost nothing, staying home doing nothing would be more moral compared to going to work everyday. Not so for doctors, nurses, teachers, and many other professions.

[pyrale]

I guess the issue is that, on average, our society looks more like Phillip Morris or Meta than it looks like a school or an hospital. And, most of all, the people our society promotes to steer itself tend to be the kind that thrives at Meta rather than in a school.

[nine_k]

There are always more people who might use your help, or at least your kind word. Most often they are right next to you.

Maybe producing even more things is not what's worth doing. But doing more than just passively watch the world pass by is quite definitely a worthy goal. (If one cares about reducing the suffering of sentient beings, that is. If one doesn't, one can just sit and strive not to do anything.)

[timacles]

To be more precise, the late stage capitalism phase we are in has designed itself around destroying anything that contributes to society.

Nothing can exist without making a profit. If there is something that is useful, our system makes sure it will be exploited for maximum profit which will in turn destroy that very things.

[ModernMech]

The people leading this society right now sincerely believe that empathy is the fundamental weakness of our civilization, and introspection is something to be avoided as much as possible. I believe our state of affairs stems from those two propositions.

[freeopinion]

I believe in local societies. Very few of us are in a position to affect things at a global scale.

If you want to change your world, demonstrate empathy in your very small, very local society. I'll try to do better in my small world, too. Maybe some day your little society will extend out to touch my little society. Let's hope that together they would form a bigger bubble where empathy is a strength.

[cogogo]

And much of our society believes those two things. You see it every day watching people interact in public with a sense of extreme entitlement. Toxic individualism.

[freeopinion]

I have spent my entire adult life getting paid for a particular skillset. At the same time I have donated that skillset to family, friends, neighbors, and strangers. Every single time I have been paid for my skillset I have guaranteed that the results of my labor were reusable by everyone on the planet, not just the party paying me.

I am a very devout capitalist. I believe very deeply in contributing to society. I don't think I am that unusual in this respect. I see people acting very capitalistic to operate community gardens with the maximum margins. I see highly trained experts volunteer as educators. I see well-paid doctors and lawyers raking up leaves for their neighbors. I see accountants freelancing to keep the blind center afloat.

There is a lot of greed in the world. I don't deny it. I confess it in myself. But there are a lot of people doing a lot of good as well. If you're feeling discouraged about the dimmer side of human nature, start up something bright and wholesome and be amazed at how many people flock to help you. Surround yourself with these people. If you don't feel you have the energy to start your own thing, be one of the people who flock to somebody else's bright efforts.

What kind of world do you want to live in? Spend your effort building that world. (Even if it takes a lot of effort.)

[wolvesechoes]

> am a very devout capitalist. I believe very deeply in contributing to society. I don't think I am that unusual in this respect. I see people acting very capitalistic to operate community gardens with the maximum margins. I see highly trained experts volunteer as educators. I see well-paid doctors and lawyers raking up leaves for their neighbors. I see accountants freelancing to keep the blind center afloat.

Charity won't save us, and all these "good" and "moral" people actively resist any change that could actually solve systemic issues, like progressive tax.

[freeopinion]

Charity is the only thing that can save us. Tax is just a different take on charity. We all agree to pay into the community chest to provide for a pubic commons. Resistance to progressive tax is resistance to a type of charity. One important difference between charity and tax is who gets to decide on how it is spent.

If charity won't save us taxes never will.

[ako]

Tax is not charity, tax is payment for community products and services. You have things you pay for individually, and things you pay for as a community.

Charity is when you pay for things you dont need yourself, tax is when you pay for things you need being part of a larger group.

[NonHyloMorph]

You can decide to be ccahritable or not. But it is expected that you contribute to the society, from whose efforts, infrastructure, labourpower, guarantees of a legal order etc. you profit, if you are an entity that is about profit. You can also be charitable on top and for most people, that is what it means to be charitable. If you do give less then you would owe anyways, and work towards enabling yourself to do so, it's quite a framing to then call it charity.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jan/06/us-exemptio...

[timacles]

I’m sorry to get incensed but I’m shocked in 2026 there are people who think tax is charity. The decades of corporate propaganda and brainwashing and corruption have really played a number on society’s understanding of basic concepts.

Tax is a mechanism for the distribution of wealth in a society. USA GDP is 38 trillion dollars and yet 85% of citizens own a tiny fraction of it. Where is all that money going? The government is on the verge of bankruptcy due to extreme debt.. to whom?

Large corporations are bleeding the society and the government dry but tax is a charity. Please educate yourself and propagate this bs

[gopher_space]

> One important difference between charity and tax is who gets to decide on how it is spent.

The desire for control interferes with efficiency, and this is a lesson every decent NGO operating out of Africa learned thirty years ago.

I think our real problem is that we've been dismissing working solutions with "but that's socialism" for so long that socialism is starting to look kind of amazing.

[wolvesechoes]

No. Charity depends on good will. Taxes do not.

Charity, helping the poor etc. is postulated for thousands of years, and didn't bring any effect. Do you know what did? Public policies and public investments, and proper tax regulations to finance them.

Hell, good, progressive tax policy should even be seen as beneficial for those that praise capitalism for it's productivity and efficiency, as it creates incentives for investments and better wages instead of rent-seeking and fat-growing.

Now, I am not against charity. There will always be a room for it, as there will be room for volunteering and communal activities. But it won't solve systemic problems, like growing inequality, poor housing, environmental issues, political corruption etc

[anjel]

Isn't empathy the better term here?

[ninalanyon]

The problem is that as a proportion of income the rich are much less charitable than the poor.

[freeopinion]

Please indulge me to try to clarify my thought.

Before you choose to practice capitalism or something else, you should choose whether to be a good person who contributes to society. Those two things are independent of each other. First choose to be a good person. Then employ whatever gift of intelligence you have to build super efficient systems in pursuit of doing good.

Capitalism is like gravity. Gravity isn't good or bad. It just is. Everybody takes advantage of gravity all the time to do things like walking. Some people build clever systems that explicitly rely on gravity. The current state of gravity is not making the world better or worse than the state of gravity did a million years ago.

People are doing amazing things that seem to defy gravity. But they don't defy gravity. They still rely on principles of physics that include gravity. People who understand gravity can depend on it to make things like Burj Khalifa possible.

Any interaction between people involves economics. Capitalism is just a set of observations about those interactions. Capitalists can be selfish or generous (or both). Capitalism focuses on the effects of acting in self interest. But people have to decide for themselves what is in their best interest. That decision is independent of capitalism. I think it is best not to confuse that decision with capitalism.

That might help better explain why I think capitalism is super awesome when informed by enlightened ideas of self interest. Your gripe doesn't seem to me to be against capitalism. Your argument seems to be that people have mistaken ideas about their own self interest.

[NonHyloMorph]

You probably haven't realised (which is often the case with tge negativities, the holes in our thought), and I would be genuinely interested in your reflection on this when I point it out: you are talking about the actions of experts lawyers well paid doctors and accountants. Maybe as example for people like you (someone claiming to be a devout capitalist). All the described positions in a stratificed society are rather priviliged but also still people who work. What role do the people play, that are not part of that social strata?

[fwipsy]

That's not true. Capitalism is merely indifferent to things without economic value. If something is monetizable it will be monetized, which can be very harmful in itself, but capitalism does not seek destruction for it's own sake.

[mentalgear]

Have you meet the military-industrial complex? President/General Eisenhower famously warned us about it becoming a self-serving entity 65 years ago:

> On January 17, 1961, in this farewell address, President Dwight Eisenhower warned against the establishment of a "military-industrial complex."

https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/president-dwigh...

The latest examples are the current war-profiteers in office who drive conflict to fuel a war economy, capitalizing on the rising stock shares of 'defense' contractors.

[fwipsy]

Right. It's destruction for the sake of profit, not (generally) for it's own sake. Different motivation, same outcome.

[mentalgear]

Also probably the US's biggest sector at 1 Trillion USD .

[abdullahkhalids]

Someone who "speaks the truth" without caring about how other people might feel, is rightfully termed an asshole, and generally not considered a good person.

Similarly, when politicians pass laws that maximize a single value while disregarding the harm it does on other consequential values, they are considered bad people.

The world is complex. Systems of decision making must do careful multi-value optimization to be considered good. Single value maximization is evil because it abdicates responsibility.

In the specific case of modern capitalism as-is-implemented, structures like ETFs and bank saving accounts are specifically designed to launder moral responsibility. "I just allocated my capital to the highest return instruments as recommended by my financial advisor. How could I know through all the opaqueness that I was directly enabling child labor and environmental destruction?"

[to11mtm]

> Someone who "speaks the truth" without caring about how other people might feel, is rightfully termed an asshole, and generally not considered a good person.

I don't think that's a binary. I've seen plenty of cases where due to mob culture/etc where 'speaking the truth' despite it being well reasoned ethically/morally, might get you considered an asshole by the group in question. Of course there is a grey line for where the overton window is for such discussions, and a good person would communicate such in a thoughtful manner rather than in an intentionally abrasive fashion.

Otherwise your point is spot on.

[amanaplanacanal]

The destruction is a natural byproduct of the tragedy of the commons. Unfortunately many (most?) in the capitalist class don't seem to think the commons is worth protecting. And why would they?

[lanyard-textile]

:) I think this very mindset is the one the article resists.

How complicated.

The best gift you can give yourself is enjoying the simple moments of life, no matter who you are and what your role is.

And that's all this is about.

[bloomingeek]

Well said. For my part: seek beauty and happiness. Don't make others sad.

The last part is far more difficult. Why? As someone said, "We have caveman emotions, live under medieval systems and have access to god-like technology."

Perhaps a simpler example: when driving on the highway, stay out of other driver's way, enjoy the experience and don't cause danger. I can't control how others drive, but I can get out of the way.

[nojonestownpls]

Yes, when life puts you in a position where you're insulated from the consequences of your actions, just enjoy it :)

If your role is actively making life worse for thousands of others, that's their problem.

When you've been offered the privilege of an uncomplicated life in a complicated world, just grab it by the neck and take it, discard the complications as something for others to deal with!

[lanyard-textile]

What a terrible view. It's a good thing that I do not feel that way!

[nojonestownpls]

When you take into account how much corporations cloud the effects of your work from you, and how easy (normal, in fact) it is to live in a bubble where you don't realize the level of suffering of others, then when you say

> no matter who you are and what your role is

that view is exactly what you are endorsing. You may not feel that way, but unfortunately, you don't have to explicitly feel it in those words to act exactly in accordance to that.

[margalabargala]

Going about your life without concern for how your actions affect those around you is what some might call selfish :)

You feel that's the best give you can give yourself. Others might feel the best gift they can give themselves, is a community.

Perhaps a war criminal might find equal personal fulfillment in seeing a wildflower as a doctor. But there's more than one ingredient in a happy life :)

[lanyard-textile]

It is no fun applying a well meaning thought to an obviously unintended subject.

A war criminal, really! You are making this... complicated ;)

1. There is an evil at both extremes -- I do not advocate for either.

2. Life's simple moments include the ones that build up your communities.