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Comment by andrepd | Hacker News Reader

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There are no thieves or bad actors in socialist utopias? Of course there are. Socialism doesn't work now and never will work given human nature. Face it: bad people exist and they will do bad things in whatever context they find themselves in. You are just complaining about the ones you see in this context. However they would just be a different kind of bad actor in a socialist context.

Do people not speed even when there are red-light cameras? Of course they do. So does this mean we could start handing out rewards instead of fines, for speeding, and people would keep doing the same, because it's in their nature to speed or something? No, that's crazy. Of course that a system that rewards certain behaviours will result in a higher incidence of those behaviours, whereas a system that disincentivises them will result in the opposite.

Don't you see how basic your comments are? I would suggest you be a bit less sure of your own righteousness, and a bit more receptive to listening what others have to say. As it stands you're only embarrassing yourself, and worse, you're polluting this website with comments that clearly indicate you're not interested in an honest, thoughtful discussion, but only in blindly defending the position which you've already decided to hold.

"To look at people in capitalist society and conclude that human nature is egoism, is like looking at people in a factory where pollution is destroying their lungs and saying that it is human nature to cough." - Andrew Collier

In any case, why should society encourage qualities like greed and selfishness?

"Society" does not encourage greed or selfishness, nor does capitalism. I'll wager that you don't actually care about those things, that you only care about other people having more than you. You are simply wrapping your "concerns" in moral language to make it seem like some sort of altruistic concern. However, you already have more than most people on earth I would imagine, you can already give your money away to the poor. I'll eat my socks if that's actually what you do though. Are you greedy are you selfish? No, just a normal person.

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