Discussion
We could house everyone. We could feed everyone. We could care for everyone. We could build devices designed to last as long as possible. We could align our manufacturing around the needs of the people and the planet.
We materially have the resources to do so.
That's why leftists are so angry. The resources we need to build a world everyone can thrive in literally already exist. We are just using them mostly to pamper the rich or murder the poor.
@DGI This resonates deeply. The idea that scarcity is manufactured ,not natural is one of the most infuriating truths of our time. We’re not lacking in resources; we’re lacking in political will and moral clarity. Redirecting our collective energy from extraction and exploitation toward care and sustainability isn’t just possible it’s necessary. Thank you for articulating what so many feel but struggle to express
@DGI
Technology is a catalyst amplifying whatever it is set on, good or bad. I think 90% of everyone, left or right, feels empathy for those who suffer and wants to use technology to make the planet a better home for humanity. The problem is really the 10% who lack empathy, who keep playing us apart, and who have been greatly helped by modern information technology in doing so. A better world does not require better technology, it requires better shared values.
Economics texts, courses and professors will tell you that economics is the study of maximizing the distribution of scarce goods.
Was once...
Now, economics is the study of preventing the distribution of plentiful goods.
We pretend we have the capacity of Orville and Wilbur Wright, while our roving science pets send us selfies from Mars.
Show our guest to quarters Mr. Crusher.
Quid pro quo?
@DGI and often the latter is a means of achieving the former.
Which should only infuriate everyone more.
@DGI We also need to stop growing the population
@DGI
David Graeber Institute just earned another follow with this toot.
Capitalism runs on scarcity.
@DGI Thanks for this thread.
In 2015-16, a team of people in my country created an ad hoc group to help refugees in the Balkans. Gradually, around 4,000 people went there. It was professional help provided by amateurs, volunteers. Because the states were unable to do anything. To this day, I still have a simple reflective vest with the crooked inscription "Czech team" written in marker; it is a symbol of hope. We proved that it is possible.
@DGI Voting for decent people helps a lot. If you know he/she is a dick, do not vote. That kind of thing.
In the UK it was "known" that we could not house everyone. Then for a while we could because covid. It's a choice.
@DGI Pamper the rich AND murder the poor.
@DGI You will just need something other than humans to run your utopia. If we ever get that sort of world, it will have to be fully automated at the top.
You may say "but if I was in charge I'd be nice." And if that's true, you won't be in charge. The biggest asshole of the bunch will be in charge.
The worst humans always rise to the top of hierarchies. That is why we don't have the sort of world you want.
Maybe AI will solve this, but humans will not.
But how do we force the current political actors to do all these things?
@davevolek @DGI you organize locally, you protect the ones in danger, you provide to the ones in need.
You could get a group of people running for mayor then setting up shelter for the homeless and foodbank for the hungry. Or you could do that without asking for permission.
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