Hacker News Reader

Comment by sudden_dystopia | Hacker News Reader

Quit reading at “large stage capitalism”. Such a bs term. This is not capitalism, this is techno corporate fascism. That is what is failing and causing misery. And the more we gaslight capitalism, the further down the totalitarian path we are going to go.

View on HN

We arrived at this place on the line directly from capitalism though. This is a failure of capitalism at least, and a direct incentive of it at worst.

You can’t just say it’s not capitalism when it’s the exact consequence of capitalism just because it resulted in something you don’t like. The “totalitarian path” is the one that capitalism laid bare before your feet.

We arrived at this place on the line directly from the formation of the sun. You don't talk about "late stage solar energy". This isn't any more the suns fault than it it is capitalisms fault; it's just a popular scapegoat.

I blame late-stage evolution. Apes with big brains starting refining tools in just the past few million years, and look where that got us.

When Orwell wrote 1984 with it's constant surveillance, he had "late-stage capitalism" in mind? Are you saying that totalitarian governments wouldn't have made use of technological innovation to spy on their citizens, including worker output?

I think the thing that is so beautiful about 1984 is that people almost universally think their side is the "right" side when they discuss the book. It's like how proponents of eugenics or voting rights laws assume they would pass the litmus tests they push.

I'm saying that I don't understand or need your hypothetical totalitarian government when the article is about real corporate bosses doing this today, in our capitalist system.

> the further down the totalitarian path we are going to go.

It's not real totalitarianism.

Exactly, the proposed solutions are always more state power and more state intervention which will simply lead to even more regulatory capture and even stronger entrenched corporate interests.

Does the author ever promote stronger state powers as a solution?

Do you believe that worker unionization is more state power and intervention?

Capitalism is what it is in reality, not just in our fondest hopes.

The problem with the phrase is the assumption that any day now, something else will inevitably come along to replace it and make everything better. That "replacement" has unfortunately proved at least as problematic as the history of capitalism.

I also get aggravated by the usage of 'late stage capitalism'. I very much prefer 'end stage capitalism' or 'terminal capitalism'.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com