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Are We Transitioning from Capitalism to Silicon Serfdom?

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Re: Are We Transitioning from Capitalism to Silicon Serfdom?

#41

Post by philposting »

mlazos wrote: post #25
yakau wrote: post #23

Capitalism is inherently flawed as it relies on infinite growth in a finite world, to put it simply.

Innovation enables growth without raw natural resources. For example, the internet drastically improved productivity (GDP/time) by making communication faster. Also services are intangible, but provide economic value. If someone can now provide services to millions, that’s growth. We are nowhere near the terminal point of growth in my opinion.

I'm not so sure that the internet has improved productivity — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Productivity_paradox

Re: Are We Transitioning from Capitalism to Silicon Serfdom?

#42

Post by dinobones »

iwontberude wrote: post #17

I have listened to Bezos pontificate about how he’s leading us to a future where trillions will live in the solar system on space stations and take vacations to earth for a glimpse of the life they could have enjoyed if they were privileged. I don’t want any part in that.

> Me as I walk through Playa Vista and Disneyland on my annual trip to California from a flyover state.

Re: Are We Transitioning from Capitalism to Silicon Serfdom?

#43

Post by genocidicbunny »

add-sub-mul-div wrote: post #40
genocidicbunny wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's pretty much exactly it. Oye Beltalowda!

If his envisioned space experience is known or planned to be shitty, why would Bezos say so? How would he sell it?

Well, it doesn't sound shitty to me if you're part of the group that gets to stay on earth and enjoy the fruits of others' labour.

Re: Are We Transitioning from Capitalism to Silicon Serfdom?

#45

Post by dukeyukey »

yakau wrote: post #23

Capitalism is inherently flawed as it relies on infinite growth in a finite world, to put it simply.

That isn't true in both ways. The "world" is effectively not finite (we keep learning new ways to more efficiently make use of stuff), and capitalism doesn't rely on infinite growth.

Re: Are We Transitioning from Capitalism to Silicon Serfdom?

#46

Post by nytesky »

aaomidi wrote: post #37
nytesky wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Americans all want SFH but we have reached the reasonable limit of house density in most metro areas within commutable distances. That “commute circle” kept expanding from street cars, to car transit, to highway arterials to suburbs and exurbs. But we need another jump in commute speed/distance to open up the next circle of suburbs/exurbs but we haven’t had any such jump since the 70s. Maybe high speed rail to city c…

And the pandemic showed that we don't need to all commute. That remote work, does work. Remote work mandates for companies would actually help revitalize americana economy, and provide more housing availability. While also reducing housing pressure from cities. Heck, people living in smaller cities will likely also have better inter-personal relationships and more fulfilling lives. But these companies that employ peo…

It did look like remote work would help the housing issue and allow people to migrate to second and third size cities, but that is backpedaling now and you need to be able to go to your office which gets us back to the original problem

Re: Are We Transitioning from Capitalism to Silicon Serfdom?

#47

Post by 1letterunixname »

js8 wrote: post #3

My question to Varoufakis is this (and I used to be skeptical of his distinction because of this, but I am less so today). If these systems of power are maintaining themselves through cultural hegemony, as Gramsci has described, what is the cultural hegemony, or ideology, here? The traditional capitalism has ideology rooted in liberalism and the concept of meritocracy. You are good at what you do, you sell it in the…

It is rapidly becoming evident that all direct and indirect income sheet and balance sheet liquid value (including that held indirectly through corporations) over a very large sum, say $30 M USD in income and $300 M in property indexed to inflation, should be taxed heavily and redistributed as monthly prosperity dividends to all citizens to ease the burden of ultra capital concentration due to many factors and causing many corrosive socioeconomic problems leading to third-world like inequities. It would also put money back into the economy due to the higher MPC (due largely to the inelastic nature of non-discretionary expenses) of people who aren't UHNWIs. While this would lead to some customary inflation, it overall would stabilize the purchasing power of individuals and make any UBI scheme moot. Without enacting such a scheme, the long-term conclusion will be a dystopian future with several trillionaires, 10 billion impoverished people living in favelas, and an infinitesimal middle-class confused and unaware that anyone has a problem. Already, there are 2-3 million people sleeping rough in the US (5-6x higher than actual figures because the way they count unhoused people has been debunked as wildly inaccurate and flawed.)

Re: Are We Transitioning from Capitalism to Silicon Serfdom?

#48

Post by j-j-j-j »

There is no feudalism without violence.

No one is forcing anyone to host stuff in the cloud, no one is forcing anyone to use Gmail, no one is forcing anyone to use iPhone or Android device, use Facebook or Twitter, etc.

Everybody does it because with their personal calculation they figured out they rather suffer some loss in freedom than spend time on alternatives.

There are just some good old fashion monopolies/oligopolies extracting as much value as they can. Without state forcing something (which is possible but currently does not seem to happen), there is no serfdom.

No one is using Apple laptops because they were forced at the gunpoint. They are just preferring longer battery life or whatever excuse over the ownership of their device and software. It's not a cage if the door is open and you're just too lazy to leave.

As a matter of fact FOSS alternatives are better than ever were, and hosting stuff outside of major clouds is also very convenient.

Re: Are We Transitioning from Capitalism to Silicon Serfdom?

#49

Post by greenhexagon »

j-j-j-j wrote: post #48

There is no feudalism without violence. No one is forcing anyone to host stuff in the cloud, no one is forcing anyone to use Gmail, no one is forcing anyone to use iPhone or Android device, use Facebook or Twitter, etc. Everybody does it because with their personal calculation they figured out they rather suffer some loss in freedom than spend time on alternatives. There are just some good old fashion monopolies/olig…

> No one is forcing anyone to host stuff in the cloud, no one is forcing anyone to use Gmail

Contrast with: https://cfenollosa.com/blog/after-self-hosting-my-email-for-...

Even someone, with expert skills, decades of experience and the time, energy and willpower to try to do it on their own, can't.

Re: Are We Transitioning from Capitalism to Silicon Serfdom?

#50

Post by j-j-j-j »

greenhexagon wrote: post #49
j-j-j-j wrote: post #48

There is no feudalism without violence. No one is forcing anyone to host stuff in the cloud, no one is forcing anyone to use Gmail, no one is forcing anyone to use iPhone or Android device, use Facebook or Twitter, etc. Everybody does it because with their personal calculation they figured out they rather suffer some loss in freedom than spend time on alternatives. There are just some good old fashion monopolies/olig…

> No one is forcing anyone to host stuff in the cloud, no one is forcing anyone to use Gmail Contrast with: https://cfenollosa.com/blog/after-self-hosting-my-email-for-... Even someone, with expert skills, decades of experience and the time, energy and willpower to try to do it on their own, can't.

Sure email became terribly centralized to the point of self-hosting being near impossible. Primarily because it's super old. But you can still use Protonmail or Fastmail. And email is less important as a communication platform than it ever was . Nowadays it feels like mostly an ID-verification system.

If things become bad enough - people will just use something else.

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