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Comment by tyingq | Hacker News Reader

>I didn't see where Theil "fears" _Star Trek_.

It was hard to find. Here's where they finally state their case:

"What is anathema to Thiel in “Star Trek” is the notion, drawn from Isaac Asimov’s fiction, that the market is but a temporary solution to imbalances in supply and demand, and that technology and plenty will eventually make it obsolete"

So, he "fears" that capitalism will go away...according the them anyway. They seem to source some of that thought from what they call his "Cato Essay", here: https://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/peter-thiel/educatio...

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Only a wealthy capitalist could see a downside to their relative wealth being diminished as technology and trade ensures that all necessities for human life are provided as human rights.

But I guess some middle class people always dream of being the one great king who isn't starving.

Bashing "wealthy capitalists"?

Declaring most of my hard-earned paycheck to be someone else's "human right"?

Attacking the middle class for not being receptive to class warfare rhetoric?

Hopefully you can see why Thiel might characterize these sorts of opinions about the future as Marxist ideology, long ago discredited by history.

Go back enough time and we're all just hunting and gathering for our next meal. There is no wealth, just our health, until we die.

You put many words in my mouth, so I am unable to respond to them without legitimizing the incorrect.

All I ask: is this, the world and structure of it, truly the best that humanity can accomplish? Or were we misled on a guided path by powers that preferred the world to fit according to a scheme that benefited them? Can we do better? Can we dream of a world of shared prosperity precisely without the benefits to one coming from another's hard-earned paycheck.

I do not advocate for a return to a system that did not work (Russian/Soviet state managed economy, I assume you mean to say), but rather that we should not simply give up and assume the world we have is the best we can come up with. Our ancient ancestors overcame great adversity to build a better future unrecognizable from their present day, as did our distant ancestors, as did our grandparents, as did our parents, and so can we.

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