Capitalist Follies

Creating jobs is only a good thing and replacing jobs is only a bad thing because of the structure of our system. The fact that new technologies threaten jobs and therefore the livelihoods of people is a fault of capitalism and is one of the greatest threats to our species. There are so many things that we could create that would be infinitely beneficial to our species, but since they disrupt our system they fail to be created, or even worse, in the case of robots or automation, they get created and are seen as a threat (because they are a threat to people as long as the system remains the same) rather than being seen as keys to unlocking great potential for our species.

Technology is and has always been just a means for humans to free up time or resources to do more of what they want and less of what they have to to survive. There are a lot of things that fall into this category that most people don’t really think to call technology, such as running water. Like running water, automation has a huge potential to benefit all of mankind, but because of the structure of our system, it is failing to be fully invested in by companies and society, and in the cases where it is, it is creating larger wealth gaps and further disrupting the system rather than allowing all humans the freedom to do more of what they want and less of what they don’t, as is the purpose of any technology.

Could you imagine for a moment, living in a world where when a new technology is created, and instead of the workers being afraid of losing their job and therefore their means of living, they could instead rejoice in the fact that there was now one less job for them to have to do while retaining the same standard of living? This is the world for which I want to live in, but instead, currently, the time and resources freed up by most new technologies is mostly enjoyed by a select few at the top of corporations who created or implemented said technology. Now, you can say “well they made it, they don’t owe their profits to anyone,” and while you are right from a capitalist perspective, in that is how we have decided to define ownership, do you really think that way of thinking is was it is best for humanity? Better yet, could you sleep at night if you were the head of said corporation and you had the power to help liberate all of mankind from the crutches of endless work but just didn’t want to because it would eat into your profits? How could any moral person think this was ok? It is my fundamental belief that any technology that has the potential to better all of mankind should be the property of all mankind, not just the person who created it. We won’t survive any other way.

Our (American) society is so individualist ( which I think has its merits, such as the fact that people need a certain level of autonomy) but we have completely overlooked not only the benefit, but the absolute necessity, of the ability to work together as a community. Most advice we give each other and most ways of thinking we seem to be ok with are centered around taking care of ourselves and ignoring the implications that our actions have on the rest of society. This is especially true when it comes to business and it is beyond awful. Businesses will often destroy their own product to raise prices as was the case with Nike cutting holes in their own shoes to avoid market saturation. It’s all about what makes the business money, not what is good for all of humanity. We have to stop this, we have to learn to think together when the actions we are taking have such impactful systemic effects.

One last thing I just thought of after remembering Napster.com because of watching “The Social Network” about the founding of Facebook… In my opinion, sites like Napster, Bearshare, and LimeWire aren’t inherently immoral, they are only immoral because of the capitalist system. We are all better off the more each other gets to experience and learn in this world. Sites like these, and all other file sharing sites, acknowledge this, and I believe they keep popping up because of this fundamental truth. We need to stop creating for the sake of ourselves but rather for the betterment of all people. We need more people doing things like Jonas Salk did when he virtually gave away the polio vaccine so that people could have much easier access to it. I will concede that in order for a society to really work where most people do things for free we need a way to support them pro-bono. This is yet another reason why I fully support a Universal Basic Income, which I will write a blog on by itself in the future at some time or another.

…..Oh, oh one last-last thing I thought of. When people say “capitalism gave you all these things you enjoy you know?” While that may be true, it is not the only system that could have given me these things, it is just the one that did. A lot of gynecology (maybe all of it, I am not sure) was developed by very inhumane practices done to black women. Would you use the existence of gynecology to justify those means of discovery? I sure hope not.

Writing these is turning out to be really fun for me. It allows me to put a lot of structure to my thoughts and pinpoint the ways in which they may be fallacious and the ways in which they are true. I hope you are getting as much enjoyment from them as I am and continue to read and comment with thoughts you may have so that we can improve the conversation and our understandings even further. If you feel like supporting me (I would absolutely love to make a living at this so if you’re rich, Hi :)… ) I have a donation option on my about page. Much love and I’ll see you next week. ❤