Comment by stinkbeetle
10 days ago
No they don't want that, because it could lead to an uprising against them. They want us provided with the essentials in exchange for being dutiful workers, so we have something to lose.
Everyone should live in pods stacked together, eat insects, not drive our own automobiles around or fly places, we should be able to get our entertainment and everything to keep ourselves happy from their subscription entertainment services. Basically we are to consume as little as possible to barely keep ourselves alive and sane while they sail themselves around to pat one another on the backs at their climate and economic conferences on their billion dollar luxury yachts.
Actually no that would be stupid they don't have the time or patience to sail their yachts around. They have crew for that. They will fly in one of their handful of private jets and have the yacht meet them there.
I'd actually love to eat insects but to my dismay I found out they're actually really expensive...
Just go outside for a while with a survival book if you are into it.
Soylent green will be affordable when the baby boomers start passing.
None of this was ever intended to be cheap for you.
don't forget the dismantling of the local community and family identity to make people reliant on the government preventing resistance by division.
People do this to themselves and willingly, no spooky evil capitalists behind the curtains are necessary.
People love money and what they can bring on the table, people often hate each other ie within families stiffed by peer pressure and expectations of mentalities formed in another very different era, people love discovering new countries and cultures. And so on and on.
Ie me - I love my parents, my childhood was normal, only later to find and compare with others to see how such childhood was... abnormally uncommon. But I very much prefer seeing them few times a year only, even though we love when they help with kids. Some of their opinions are very outdated, their ramblings are often out of touch with reality, they tend sometimes to spoil kids (even after setting boundaries), and overall generational gap is absolutely massive. It is a form of freedom. Make that 10x more in much more strict societies where pressure and expectations from parents on kids are massive and then they wonder why kids stay the heck away from them once adults.
And fuck local communities, for every good-hearted neighbor who just wants to socialize and help out and otherwise stays away from one's life, there is easily 5 or 10 who are the epitome of nimbyism, voyeurism or similar hobbies of people with empty lives, clueless on how world and people actually work but always with very strong opinions on everything and will to push those on everybody else.
But kids in those strict societies stay with parents more, help them and treat them better.
Meanwhile, you dont care about them except for them being potential resource of free work.
And I mean, you idea of local comunity is all about other people doing free work for you and then tolerating your peculiarities with no reciprocation.
So, I dont think that is much of an argument here.
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the last bit is only true under individualised consumerism. its when everybody is like a spoiled child is where solidarity goes to die.
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I suspect that's beyond what the Hackernews crowd can cope with contemplating. Billionaires bad except on that subject in which case billionaires good and working class bad.
At that stage, owners will very likely have enough drones and robots at their command to not need to worry about petty things like flesh and blood uprisings.
How will they steal added value and get richer if masses consume as little as possible?
All the value will be diverted. I don’t know if you noticed, but in the last few years, you’d have come ahead if you gambled on the stock, crypto or commodities market than if you busted your ass.
That would be https://marshallbrain.com/manna
> Everyone should live in pods stacked together, eat insects, not drive our own automobiles around or fly places, we should be able to get our entertainment and everything to keep ourselves happy from their subscription entertainment services.
Yes of course capitalists love when economy is bad. Sorry, these dystopic visions do not pass even simplest smell test.
It’s less complicated than that. Externalities are when an individual profits but others pay the price. Think of climate change. And when a small number are so rich they control the government, so there’s nothing to stop them. It’s narrow incentives driving the whole thing.
They love it when the richest people do well. They dont care about how anyone else lives. The poorer other people are better they feel about winning.
Those you call "capitalists" love monopolies as long as they are theirs. They love captured market. They dont care about competition unless it is someone not them competing to provide for them on lower price.
As of now, billionaires dont want or need strong economy as a "middle class and lower class doing good". They want the "our wealth goes up, we are getting tax breaks, if lower class pays for it cool" kind of economy.
The poorer people are that are still able to work, the cheaper labor is. It's really that simple.
The economy won't be bad. The numbers will look good for them. Also they aren't capitalists. Try to keep up.
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I found the comment to be quite sober and realistic. Other than usage of "they want" as a monolith group it's pretty accurate.
It is not realistic - we are consuming way more than any of the previous generations. Poverty is at an all time low and steeply dropped since the last century. We are curing diseases, people are living long. What's the pessimism about?
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What's it even talking about?
> live in pods stacked together,
... the housing crisis? Cause disputed, seems limited to cities, may hinge on zoning. Who are the "they"?
> eat insects,
... so here "they" are vegans, climate warriors?
> not drive our own automobiles around
... self driving cars, not mandatory and not very successful. Musk's vision, so this one would fit, if it was happening.
> or fly places
... climate regulations?
Back in my day…
Go repeat that to the nearest homeless guy. Wealth inequality is rising rapidly, and around a billion people on this planet still can't eat as well as they should.
Poverty is at an all time low. We are consuming way more than ancestors. Life expectancy is at an all time high.
How do you explain this?
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I have agency and I'm very happy with my lot. I'm not "blaming" anybody for anything. But unlike you I am not in a naive infantile delusion about what the ruling class are and want and work toward.
> I'm not "blaming" anybody for anything.
This has to be a joke given your post. Ctr + F "they"
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