Comment by canadiantim
3 days ago
It's more like the free market, but with all of the market failures, parasites and bad actors that implies too
3 days ago
It's more like the free market, but with all of the market failures, parasites and bad actors that implies too
I wouldn't say that. There's plenty of behaviors where plants and fungi act in the interest of the community as a whole. Mature forests are made of late-successional species. These species could only possibly grow after earlier succession species had "prepped the soil" (nurtured the soil ecology, transitioned the nitrogen cycle from ammonia to nitrates, etc) and provided shade to allow them to grow. Since these trees are dependent on the well being of so many other species there is plenty of incentive for them to act in ways that we might call "selfless"
I think it would be be more illuminating to call it "enlightened self-interest".
Ah yes, the old "rule utilitarianism collapses into act utilitarianism"
I don't completely agree but it's a better position that what's currently dominant
Which is a far cry away from the “free market” we see in the west.
Wild how I got downvoted for stating a pretty obvious fact. Long term planning and self sacrifice in the interest of long term community benefit which transfers to one’s future self / progeny is actually very similar to communism.
Fuck me I guess