“When they say ‘there is no alternative to capitalism’, they do not make a statement. They make a demand. They demand to not think about alternatives.”
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Comment on Anon hates smartphones
nexguy@lemmy.world 4 weeks agoI don’t see how we would have smartphones without capitalism. We’d still all be farmers.
uis@lemm.ee 4 weeks ago
clarinet_estimator@lemm.ee 4 weeks ago
You know capitalism is really new in the scale of human history right? It wasn’t until the industrial revolution in the 18th century that the means of production could be privately owned which then allowed for further speculative capital (stocks, land value, etc) to be equated to power.
The people of the past weren’t inherently stupid. Plenty of scientific and cultural progress was made prior to capitalism being our economic model.
nexguy@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
What were most people doing before the industrial revolution? Farming.
piccolo@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
Most were farmers because humans needed food, and food productivity was low before the age of industrialization. Not really sure what you are trying to argue other than it took a long time for enough progress was made to free humans to presue other things other than farming their land.
nexguy@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Capitalism incentivises rapid progress in all fields.
I’m not cheering for capitalism, just saying it takes advantage of the inherent greed of people to quickly speed innovation. There would be no industrial revolution without capitalism. At least not on the short scale of just a hundred years or two.
TimewornTraveler@lemm.ee 4 weeks ago
weird that not everyone was a farmer before capitalism then
redwattlebird@lemmings.world 4 weeks ago
Without capitalism, we’d all have the ability to swap out parts and create a phone for the purposes that we need. Some people want the best while others want the minimum, and most want something in between. Every part would be replaceable.
With capitalism, we have planned obsolescence without the ability to repair or replace parts and every conceivable thing to reap more money off us and force us to continually consume.
nexguy@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
I’m saying without the greed of capitalism we wouldn’t have phones to swap out parts. We would have very limited technology because the incentive to innovate is much less when you do it because you want to rather than earning extra resources to raise standards of living(greed). Not as many people will volunteering their entire lives to come up with new technology while living the same standard of living as a farmer.
redwattlebird@lemmings.world 4 weeks ago
I get what you’re saying but, respectfully, I think you’re incorrect. The field of science is not about capitalism but the goal of understanding everything around you. Aqueducts were not the result of capitalism. Russia won the space race. Innovations happen regardless. Capitalism drives innovation in specific directions.
vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
Also id argue that the creation of the smartphone is the result of market forces, which arent unique to and predate Capitalism by millenia. The bronze age collapse happened largely due to the collapse of the grand trade networks and markets that birthed the bronze age, most bronze age societies predate currency as we understand it outright.
nomous@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
This might be a hot take but I’m not sure we all need a phone in our pocket or that it’s inherently a good thing.