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by samantp 38 days ago
1. Capitalism: Efficient, progress, but channels all benefits to very fewer and fewer as tech progresses. Trickle down is too slow.

2. Socialism: Bureaucratic and slow, no private enterprise, finally poverty. Unless it is the special form of global efficient state capitalism (same as capitalism then); just that commonfolk of the state-capitalist nation can be happy overall, at the expense of many more unhappy citizens of countries exploited by the bully country.

3. Capitalist with Minimum-basic-services: Let anyone with strength do anything they wish as long basic needs of food, health, education, safety, etc are handled. Will lead to pacified but meek, non-interfering masses and those at the helm take care of development and throw additional goodies to the basic-service pool as per their gains/wishes (plus doors of fashion are always open for philanthropy). Latest trends seems be toward this.

4. Ideal, Private enterprise with strong oversight by democratic state: Private enterprise, be it for profit or anything else, who cares. Just have enough knobs (taxation, holidays, freebies, policy, force, etc.) in place such that development happens where needed (balance parity, environment, nex-gen research etc. dimensions) wholesomely. This is ideal, should have worked, but alas, since all elections are funded by big money, the patrons will definitely expect returns in the form of favoritism during policy formation (including a big no to state-funded elections, or big yes to curbing public agitations by weapons and state force).

In short, masses are doomed, and tech progress will expedite it!

1 comments

Isn't the failure you note in 4 always inevitable in a system where Capital translates to power?
Yup.

Just that, capital translating to power is not a universal truth. Historically too, various recipes have tasted success to move up power ladders. Be it high moral values, smart statecraft, peaceful bottom-up people movements-art-science, or worse like violence, anarchy, barbarism; or a hotch-potch of all those!

Will be fun to watch how things pan out today!

Could be worth giving anarchy another look - try Kropotkin's "Anarchist Communism" for a brief overview, or the conquest of bread. It's not an inherently violent ideology at all :) you could also look into Keith McHenry and his rewrite of the anarchist cookbook.
Thanks. Had read some Kropotkin, will check out McHenry.

For a while, have been finding an affinity with MN Roy with his “cultural prerequisites of freedom” and “radical humanism”. But yes, completely agree that modeling all the world’s complexity into a any grand ism is being foolishly ambitious.