But why do that when you can wantonly exploit your workforce for obscene profits? /s
See, they don’t need the best workers, isn’t like they are going to be partaking of the services or products they are shoveling, they just need obedient workers who will meet a minimum threshold of quality; anyone who falls below the threshold can be used as an example to ensure the rest keep working.
They aren’t delusional, they are owning class capitalists and their incentives are fundamentally different from ours as working class people.
Strider@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Hm, yes to what you’re saying but I’d still call them delusional.
The reason being taking established business management knowledge. Yes, you want to maximize profit (there’s more to that, but let’s leave it at that for here). You calculate how to do this and it is known on general that the positive reinforcement works better and more reliably than the negative path.
So for me, they’re delusional in holding on to wrong beliefs. And they’re bad managers too.
And let’s not get started on the morality of course.
Crankenstein@lemmy.world 4 days ago
This is just how the system of capitalism naturally degrades into fascism. Eventually they can’t squeeze enough out of the established methods and must tighten their grip. Positive reinforcement only gets you so far, and the owning-class wishes to go further.
And what makes a “good/bad” manager depends on the incentive structure. To us, the way they manage things is considered bad by our interests but, to them, they see it as good management because it is still fulfilling their interests.
But in the sense that they are holding the “wrong beliefs”, I guess you could call them delusional, with their delusion being of the owning class. It is just very unfortunate our societal is built to reinforce that delusion.
Strider@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Ah but the fulfilling their needs is not what it does. Only short term. And I’d like long term money if I were in that position. Anyhow, nitpicking I guess.
Had to stop myself from quoting star wars grip tightening quote.
In the end, I’m totally with you regarding capitalism. We could all have a nice life, especially with all the advancements and working together. Star trek has a nice society. Providing what you’re good at and like would really benefit all.
Anyhow, won’t work with humans I guess. Best of luck to us though.
Crankenstein@lemmy.world 3 days ago
It is not nitpicking. It’s actually a good point. You think that because you have the perspective of the present conditions. You’re thinking of what you would do with those resources to solve the issues you see with that perspective. Yet, the owning-class don’t; they only have their perspective of what is immediately important in their lives and maintaining it. It fulfills those needs now and that’s what they care about, the rest of their issues they still believe they can solve by throwing at it money and the labor of others while they go stroke their egos; gorging themselves on luxury and decadence assuming they are to powerful to be touched by the problems the masses struggle with.
That is the insidious problem with systemic issues. The princess didn’t tell them to eat brioche out of spite but because she was blinded by her position being so far separated an experience from that of the common masses. They, the owning-class, too are only human and can only see what they see from their individual, limited perspective. The system is working just fine for them and they want to ensure that continues to be. That inherently jades the logic of their internal reasoning. It’s why they don’t think like me and you.
That egalitarian society might seem distant, and it is, that doesn’t mean it is impossible. We know it potentially can happen as anthropologist David Graeber said, “The ultimate goal of our oppressors is to limit our imagination about what is possible without them, so that we might never imagine more for ourselves and the world we live in. We can only imagine what is in front of us because the power structure decrees that there are no alternatives other than what currently exists. We humans have lived the alternative for tens of thousands of years. We are capable of building a free society, a brighter future, because we already have ideas about what that might look like. We know what societies without bureaucracies are capable of.”
It’s just gonna take a LOT of work and we are on the back foot in the present moment. Yet, as Ursula K LeGuin said, “We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings.”
Thanks for this delightful back and forth. Keep the hope alive. It’s all we have currently.