Comment by rglullis
1 year ago
A tribe assumes a strict hierarchy and mobility only though power and violence.
I can agree with you about the issue of societies failing to organize themselves past a certain scale, but this is not a problem with "Capitalism".
Fair, I used a very loose definition then.
My issue with capitalism is fundamentally split in three parts: that profit is the driving force behind action; that short term effects are prioritized over long term ones; and that global markets operate at a scale that does not allow individuals to have any real agency in their environment due to the points outlined in the previous comment.
It just fosters the kind of behavior that goes against my idealized version of what society should be according to my understanding of the conditions in which we thrive.
i.e. it turns people into selfish venal assholes and it destroys our chances at a better future with each passing day
Perhaps I'm also using a wrong definition of anarchy then. But it's honestly the closest label I know for this concept. A less centralized society.
But profit _is_ the driving force of human action. Doing anything voluntarily is by definition profitable, otherwise you wouldn't do it.
This smears out the definition of profit beyond usefulness.
I can pretty much guarantee hunter-gatherers hunt to not starve, children play for sheer joy, and nobody's thinking of profit.
There are better psychological/anthropological terms to apply to human drives than calling them "profitable". That's weird economist thinking, trying to bring everything under their purview.
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"My issue with capitalism is fundamentally split in three parts", then you go on to describe things that are not exclusive to Capitalism AT ALL.
Again, please quit the cheap sophistry.
> the kind of behavior that goes against my idealized version of what society should be
Are you listening to yourself? You sound like a college sophomore who is sure has a solution to all of humanity's problems...
> turns people into selfish venal assholes
... and can only assign blame on others.
I can bet you nourish some well-developed fantasies about what you would do if you were given enough power over any "less centralized society", and they are a lot more about imposing your view over everyone than ensuring your small community can prosper and be happy.
> I can bet you nourish some well-developed fantasies about what you would do if you were given enough power over any "less centralized society", and they are a lot more about imposing your view over everyone than ensuring your small community can prosper and be happy.
Damn, you sound very angry for someone who is having a calm discussion on the internet. More importantly, you seem to be assuming a lot of stuff about me but we've never met. And you have no clue about how much of it is right.
So please just, kindly, shut up. You look like an ass.
"then you go on to describe things that are not exclusive to Capitalism AT ALL."
Why are they required to be exclusive? If I said that uncontrolled train crossings lead to more train crashes, would you retort that train crashes aren't exclusive to uncontrolled crossings?
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