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I’ll repost comment I did recently:
I remember how few yesrs ago I said “capitalism exists because perfect replicators do not exist”. Eventually I realised that perfect replicators of information already exist and capitalists made sure we can’t use them against capitalism.
When computers became mainstream and all sorts of media got into the open Web, many have seen this as the end of copyright history.
But it wouldn’t be capitalism if it wouldn’t build sophisticated instruments and twist legislation in unprecedented ways only to protect publishers.
Nooooo we don’t want to do critical thinking and systemic analysis of root causes! Modernity bad! People lived better before antibiotics! Math is evil! /s
Hence the Free Software Movement.
Same goes for any technology, from power loom to AI.
Convincing the working class it’s the tools that are the problem, and not the system that abuses them (both working class, and tools), is one of capitalism’s greatest achievements.
https://www.globallearning-cuba.com/blog-umlthe-view-from-the-southuml/marx-on-automated-industry
Ironically the Luddites were very aware the system was the problem, they made system changing demands.
Mainstream history has decided to make them into a terrified of new technology pastiche of the truth.
Convincing the working class that tools the system creates are free of the system’s agenda may be an even greater achievement.
Conspiring to jack up rent prices is exploitative when people do it. Is it any different when the RealPage algorithm does it indirectly?
I don’t see any value in saying that human behavior is the problem but then specifically carving out an exception for the automated agents we create to amplify specific behaviors.
When RedBubble ganks art and sells it on t-shirts, how is that different from when Stability ganks art and sells it at a text prompt?
the RealPage algorithm
Which was programmed by humans, with biases and vested interests based in and fuelled by capitalism and the rest of the kyriarchy
I don’t see any value in saying that human behavior is the problem but then specifically carving out an exception for the automated agents we create to amplify specific behaviors.
Human behaviours. Machines don’t have their own behaviours, only those humans have programmed them to have, again, with those same biases and vested interests based in and fuelled by capitalism and the rest of the kyriarchy
When RedBubble ganks art and sells it on t-shirts, how is that different from when Stability ganks art and sells it at a text prompt?
It isn’t, both are automated systems designed by humans, you guessed it - with those same biases and vested interests based in and fuelled by capitalism and the rest of the kyriarchy
Convincing the working class that tools the system creates are free of the system’s agenda may be an even greater achievement.
And only picking examples of ways in which technology is used that are explicitly for profit is cherry picking and twisting reality. The existence of things like FOSS and other ways in which people share technology or otherwise use it to improve society without any profit motive proves you wrong.
AI isn’t intrinsically capitalist, just like computers aren’t, nor were steam engines or power looms. Capitalism convincing you that its way is the only way to use tools doesn’t mean that’s the reality, it only means the propaganda is working.
So is RealPage not a tool, or are tools not inherently agenda-less?
I’m not saying all technology is bad, but I am saying all technology is biased.
And I’m not saying all AI must be exploitative, but its mechanics are such that the easiest path forward for it is exploitative.
What do you mean capitalism WAS a misstake? Did I miss a memo?
Yes, Das Kapital by Marx.
Doesn’t he specifically say capitalism is an improvement over pre-capitalism and a necessary step for industrialized society to reach socialism? He wouldn’t have called it a mistake unless he was really pissed
Yes you are correct. I usually interpret people who say “capitalism was a mistake” to mean “to continue to peruse unregulated free market capitalism in light of all the evidence that is causes harm was a mistake”. I interpret it this way because I have never seen anyone who was seriously advocating for feudalism. I have seen a lot of people seriously advocating for socialism, communion, or unregulated free market capitalism.
I figured you were one of the free market capitalist type when reading your initial comment because it seemed like your point was very nit-picky on the meme.
Were you concerned that this meme was being made by someone who wants to return to feudalism?
In debian and graphene we trust
Capitalism was a necessary step in the development of socialism. It wasn’t a mistake, it’s just run its course. Just a technicality I know and I shouldn’t overanalyze but I felt it was worth stating
That’s like saying “everything happens for a reason” to someone whose whole family has just been murdered.
No. Capitalism was never necessary.
But nothing is actually necessary. It depends on what you want to achieve.
The speed of innovation might have gotten a big impulse by capitalism; I’m not sure if we’d technologically be where we are now otherwise. Of course one could argue that we do not need tech in its current form, which is fair.
But nothing is actually necessary. It depends on what you want to achieve.
Food, water, shelter, sustainability, those are necessary (as are human rights and an equal, equitable, and just society), commodifying the necessities of existence and survival of the human race to make a handful of people massive amounts of money and power never has been, and never will be, necessary.
The speed of innovation might have gotten a big impulse by capitalism
Lmmfao
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2020/08/how-capitalism-stifles-innovation
I’m not sure if we’d technologically be where we are
Lmmfao again, thanks
Truth is you’ve been brainwashed, by capitalism to think it is a good, necessary, and even natural thing, when in truth it has existed for the tiniest blips in human history (and in its short existence has cost, and continues to cost tens of millions of lives annually, not to mention the health of the planet, and that of the remaining working class), and you’ve been taken in by an appeal to tradition, rather than truth or reality, to ensure you don’t start considering what is outside of the box, or system, you’ve been trapped in since birth.
And evidently, it’s worked.
were soviet computers ruined too?
