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Comment by Vampiero | Hacker News Reader

Fair, I used a very loose definition then.

My issue with capitalism is fundamentally split in three parts: that profit is the driving force behind action; that short term effects are prioritized over long term ones; and that global markets operate at a scale that does not allow individuals to have any real agency in their environment due to the points outlined in the previous comment.

It just fosters the kind of behavior that goes against my idealized version of what society should be according to my understanding of the conditions in which we thrive.

i.e. it turns people into selfish venal assholes and it destroys our chances at a better future with each passing day

Perhaps I'm also using a wrong definition of anarchy then. But it's honestly the closest label I know for this concept. A less centralized society.

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But profit _is_ the driving force of human action. Doing anything voluntarily is by definition profitable, otherwise you wouldn't do it.

This smears out the definition of profit beyond usefulness.

I can pretty much guarantee hunter-gatherers hunt to not starve, children play for sheer joy, and nobody's thinking of profit.

There are better psychological/anthropological terms to apply to human drives than calling them "profitable". That's weird economist thinking, trying to bring everything under their purview.

Worse, it’s an attempt to get us to agree that humans only do things for profit, in order to advance an ideology and make our thought more malleable when an author turns around and starts writing about public policy and ethics applied to things that actually are about profit.

At least that’s what is going on when the schools of “thought” this kind of stuff comes from attempt it. This particular poster might not be. But usually it’s a cheap rhetorical trick, coming from folks who present themselves as simply following logic. Gross.

"My issue with capitalism is fundamentally split in three parts", then you go on to describe things that are not exclusive to Capitalism AT ALL.

Again, please quit the cheap sophistry.

> the kind of behavior that goes against my idealized version of what society should be

Are you listening to yourself? You sound like a college sophomore who is sure has a solution to all of humanity's problems...

> turns people into selfish venal assholes

... and can only assign blame on others.

I can bet you nourish some well-developed fantasies about what you would do if you were given enough power over any "less centralized society", and they are a lot more about imposing your view over everyone than ensuring your small community can prosper and be happy.

"then you go on to describe things that are not exclusive to Capitalism AT ALL."

Why are they required to be exclusive? If I said that uncontrolled train crossings lead to more train crashes, would you retort that train crashes aren't exclusive to uncontrolled crossings?

> Why are they required to be exclusive?

They are not required to be exclusive, but it would require that we can establish cause and effect.

If you tell me that your "issue with Capitalism" is that "we have people driven by profit/greed and wealth is unevenly distributed", but a quick look through history tells you we can always find "people driven by personal gain and wealth inequality", then what does "Capitalism" has to do with it?

"A quick look through history" is what I'd expect from someone who skims over a book and completely misses the point because they think they know it all.

Indeed I gave you three constraints but you're only looking at one independently.

When else in history were markets global? Why am I arguing with someone who can't even read?

> When else in history were markets global?

Right, so the fundamental issue is that we are living in a globalized world, which reduces any room for nuance and imposes an uniform and homogenized culture, top-down policy-making, and a totalitarian approach by the ruling class.

Thing is, this would still be our reality regardless of the economic system. Globalism would be a problem even if the Soviet Union had won the cold war.

We would still be subjected to uniform culture, top-down policy-making and totalitarianism.

The people would still be acting by their own personal interests.

People would still favor short term benefits over long term prosperity.

So, again: what does Capitalism has to do with it?

> I can bet you nourish some well-developed fantasies about what you would do if you were given enough power over any "less centralized society", and they are a lot more about imposing your view over everyone than ensuring your small community can prosper and be happy.

Damn, you sound very angry for someone who is having a calm discussion on the internet. More importantly, you seem to be assuming a lot of stuff about me but we've never met. And you have no clue about how much of it is right.

So please just, kindly, shut up. You look like an ass.

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