this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2023
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Showerthoughts
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Tw: rape
You realize that, capitalism, if left EVER unrelated, will use power to endlessly underregulate itself and just gain more power?
This is like saying "firing a gun in my mouth doesn't kill me as long as I live". Sure, it's true I guess, but it's also so, so inherently wrong.
I've been trying to do what you're doing now for so long. But in reality, you have to take a look at what capitalism really is: it's a form of power designation that designates that power with the powerful, or pedantically, with capital, but it's the same thing, for all intents and purposes. And THAT is an unbalanced system from the get-go, right off the bat.
It's also like saying "slave systems are SUPER productive!". Like, sure, they are. But they're also incredibly destructive and prevent a lot of other things from happening.
It's also like saying "a lot of sex happens when you rape somebody". Sure, yes, I guess that's technically a true statement. But.... It's an unwanted power imbalance that hasn't accounted for what would have happened to the victim OR the rapist had they not raped somebody. The rapist could have developed into a normal human being and even fell in love or had a lot of consensual casual sex, and the victim could have stayed not raped and been perfectly happy progressing through their life not raped.
It's just such a half baked, biscuit brained thought and statement. You literally cannot compare our tech right now to the past because technology typically progresses exponentially ANYWAY. You cannot know what would have happened or what would happen if not capitalism, because we've had nothing BUT it for basically all of human history. Every time we even want to try something else, capitalism LITERALLY attacks it with everything it's got and refuses to ever let up until there's nothing but ashes, and a lot of those places are capitalist. Native Americans? IMPERIALISM BECAUSE OF CAPITALISM.
Greed kills selflessness every time in every experiment as long as it exists and is given the smallest chance.
Capitalism is cancer; it just mindless destroys everything in it's path, along with itself, only existing and leeching as long as its host stays alive.
You gotta read some more books and history.
Capitalism, well-regulated, has worked - it's not some dangerous idea that will result in our self-destruction (at least, there is no historical basis for this.) On the other hand, history shows we are much more likely to see communism self-destruct (into authoritarianism/totalitarianism.)
I agree that the generational wealth aspect is the worst aspect of capitalism and I wish that could be reformed.
A note - technology does not progress exponentially. In fact, it rarely has. We have had dark ages lasting between hundreds and tens of thousands of years between incremental advancements. The progress of technology is in no way guaranteed, your society needs to encourage continued R&D into technology, which regulated competition/profit motive does especially well.
I anticipate that at some point in the future we can abandon capitalism entirely, as we will have technologically advanced to the point where we don't need it anymore.