I find myself torn here. Yes, the point is well taken. But, College kids have always been retarded. I don't give a fuck if they masturbate with string. I was a retarded college kid once. I didn't call for the extermination of minorities, but I did drink myself into plenty of stupors and thought I knew the truth about everything.
What's frustrating is that communism is so obviously fundamentally opposed to human nature, but people who could otherwise be useful members of society hang onto the notion that that's untrue. How dangerous is this march through the institutions, really? Given the lawfare we are ALREADY seeing, it feels very, truly threatening to me as this new batch of radicals takes up real positions in the judiciary, law firms, government, ngos.
But there's nowhere to run. Zeihan (love him or hate him) makes this point pretty convincingly. I think NS Lyons' latest piece is key. We have to build in parallel, and NOW.
To be fair to Marx, he wasn't alone in reasoning like he did, re: leisure and personal development. Remember that when he wrote his stuff, the poorest parts of London had an infant mortality rate of 300/1 000 births. Not even Biafra, not even Calcutta during famine attained that - only liberal capitalist industrial nations managed something like that.
What was envisioned, and not only by him and certainly not only by communists was a future (or rather; Future) where machines did all dirty, dangerous labour and where that machine labour made people free to develop themselves. They did not take evolution into account: without some kind of selection pressure, progress isn't made but regress and degeneration quickly become the norm.
There must be both the hope of a carrot, and an actual carrot on offer, and a better one than you've currently get at that, and even worse - it must be a real offer, a real and realistic proposition of a better carrot and it must be fair, or people /will/ start "checking out" in various ways, and it doesn't matter one iota what -ism is the paradigm at hand.
Except if it allows for social darwinism, or actual impartial meritocracy - and those two are only ever nice if you are reasonable sure you'd be on the right side of the line.
"To be fair to Marx. . ." Feels like I need a shower, "Crying Game"-style.
If 20-somethings want to sit on the dole and smoke pot and play video games....well... that's not great but the disdain I feel for it is mild compared with the white hot rage I feel towards Congress that just doled out another $60 billion in MIC and weapons contractor corporate welfare in the name of fighting an unwinnable proxy war with Russia over Ukraine. I am way madder about that.
The corporate model is the whole problem. If we all owned our own tools and labor and we incorporated creativity into our work, that would be a lot better system. Employees are not happy, but it's easier to be an employee. Often, you don't have to put your whole self into being an employee. You can just show up and go through the motions. It's not like that if you're in business for yourself. We are being reset to a time when technical skill in trade (plumbers, carpenters) is highly valued. The old testament wisdom is to work with your hands so that you may have to give to others. Learning how to do stuff is the real education.
Mr Bray, you are hitting me like Steve Pressfield often does on his blog. How the fbomb are you gettin inside my head?
I have a thesis I'm fighting with myself to fully articulate--it is that comfort and leisure are actually the antitheses to happiness, connection, and well being. I've written here a few times about my obsession with 'collective suffering' as a means to trust, compassion, connection, meaning, in short--agape.
Comfort & leisure are the seeds of self-centeredness, self-indulgence, SELF SELF SELF-which, anyone who has done any personal reflection at all--knows is the pathway to self-hatred, despondency, depression, and anxiety.
One of the most direct ways to transcendence--meaning transcending one's own needs/desires--it to be of service to others.
Comfort and leisure interrupt this tendency. I'll use one of my dogs as an example.
When I'm awake and around the house and hear my dog whine, like he's hurting or needs to go outside--I'm up out of my chair in an instance, or running downstairs--immediately concerned about his well being--even if on the phone, or engaged in something. I put my dogs well being above my own concerns.
Now--it is 0245, sideways rain pouring, windy--and I"m tucked in warm in my bed--and I hear my dog whine -- all I initially think about is my own warmth, my own comfort, my own sleep--and sadly, "THIS DAMN DOG!"
We are not thinking about love, production, or anything positive/growth oriented--we only think about staying warm.
Dancing With String is just beyond parody. Even if I passionately believed in their cause - regardless of how poorly they themselves understand it - I would still think the string thing was pointless.
Has anyone asked them what, exactly, they think that will achieve?
Oh, and Hamas is probably laughing their collective asses off.
I keep hearing this line of thinking concerning AI. that advancing automation and artificial intelligence will create a society free from drudgery where everyone can stay home and make arts and crafts (this is an actual quote from a woman I know who makes six figures at an ad agency).
perhaps this is just cope considering that AI will probably destroy most ad agency work.
does anyone remember, at the onset of Lockdowns, how many Covid albums there would be? the dawning of a new creative renaissance? I do…and the exact opposite happened. it turns out that all art and commerce exist in a feedback loop and once you stop the loop, the well dries up pretty quick.
They have no idea they’ll be ground up in the machine like everyone else, with the exception of the apex predators leading this movement. Did I mention I saw Bernie Sanders flying first class out of Burlington?
In my perfect version of their story it ends like this…..the parents who have paid for their self indulgent lifestyle finally die. They inherit money , which they burn thru quickly because they have the brain capacity and with ethic of a sausage and then …. Well the ending sucks too because then we will have to support them. Or maybe they can work at Starbucks ?
As you know, intellectual creativity requires effort. It is work. However, labor often requires creativity and ingenuity. If only video games had existed when Marx was alive. Maybe we would have been spared from the torment he has wrought.
I find myself torn here. Yes, the point is well taken. But, College kids have always been retarded. I don't give a fuck if they masturbate with string. I was a retarded college kid once. I didn't call for the extermination of minorities, but I did drink myself into plenty of stupors and thought I knew the truth about everything.
What's frustrating is that communism is so obviously fundamentally opposed to human nature, but people who could otherwise be useful members of society hang onto the notion that that's untrue. How dangerous is this march through the institutions, really? Given the lawfare we are ALREADY seeing, it feels very, truly threatening to me as this new batch of radicals takes up real positions in the judiciary, law firms, government, ngos.
But there's nowhere to run. Zeihan (love him or hate him) makes this point pretty convincingly. I think NS Lyons' latest piece is key. We have to build in parallel, and NOW.
Ya gotta wonder who provided Marx with the food he ate while he was busy coming up with these brilliant ideas?
To be fair to Marx, he wasn't alone in reasoning like he did, re: leisure and personal development. Remember that when he wrote his stuff, the poorest parts of London had an infant mortality rate of 300/1 000 births. Not even Biafra, not even Calcutta during famine attained that - only liberal capitalist industrial nations managed something like that.
What was envisioned, and not only by him and certainly not only by communists was a future (or rather; Future) where machines did all dirty, dangerous labour and where that machine labour made people free to develop themselves. They did not take evolution into account: without some kind of selection pressure, progress isn't made but regress and degeneration quickly become the norm.
There must be both the hope of a carrot, and an actual carrot on offer, and a better one than you've currently get at that, and even worse - it must be a real offer, a real and realistic proposition of a better carrot and it must be fair, or people /will/ start "checking out" in various ways, and it doesn't matter one iota what -ism is the paradigm at hand.
Except if it allows for social darwinism, or actual impartial meritocracy - and those two are only ever nice if you are reasonable sure you'd be on the right side of the line.
"To be fair to Marx. . ." Feels like I need a shower, "Crying Game"-style.
I am having trouble understanding how communism eliminates work that is tedious or drudgery.
If 20-somethings want to sit on the dole and smoke pot and play video games....well... that's not great but the disdain I feel for it is mild compared with the white hot rage I feel towards Congress that just doled out another $60 billion in MIC and weapons contractor corporate welfare in the name of fighting an unwinnable proxy war with Russia over Ukraine. I am way madder about that.
The corporate model is the whole problem. If we all owned our own tools and labor and we incorporated creativity into our work, that would be a lot better system. Employees are not happy, but it's easier to be an employee. Often, you don't have to put your whole self into being an employee. You can just show up and go through the motions. It's not like that if you're in business for yourself. We are being reset to a time when technical skill in trade (plumbers, carpenters) is highly valued. The old testament wisdom is to work with your hands so that you may have to give to others. Learning how to do stuff is the real education.
Mr Bray, you are hitting me like Steve Pressfield often does on his blog. How the fbomb are you gettin inside my head?
I have a thesis I'm fighting with myself to fully articulate--it is that comfort and leisure are actually the antitheses to happiness, connection, and well being. I've written here a few times about my obsession with 'collective suffering' as a means to trust, compassion, connection, meaning, in short--agape.
Comfort & leisure are the seeds of self-centeredness, self-indulgence, SELF SELF SELF-which, anyone who has done any personal reflection at all--knows is the pathway to self-hatred, despondency, depression, and anxiety.
One of the most direct ways to transcendence--meaning transcending one's own needs/desires--it to be of service to others.
Comfort and leisure interrupt this tendency. I'll use one of my dogs as an example.
When I'm awake and around the house and hear my dog whine, like he's hurting or needs to go outside--I'm up out of my chair in an instance, or running downstairs--immediately concerned about his well being--even if on the phone, or engaged in something. I put my dogs well being above my own concerns.
Now--it is 0245, sideways rain pouring, windy--and I"m tucked in warm in my bed--and I hear my dog whine -- all I initially think about is my own warmth, my own comfort, my own sleep--and sadly, "THIS DAMN DOG!"
We are not thinking about love, production, or anything positive/growth oriented--we only think about staying warm.
Comfort and leirsure are toxic. They kill us.
bsn
Dancing With String is just beyond parody. Even if I passionately believed in their cause - regardless of how poorly they themselves understand it - I would still think the string thing was pointless.
Has anyone asked them what, exactly, they think that will achieve?
Oh, and Hamas is probably laughing their collective asses off.
I keep hearing this line of thinking concerning AI. that advancing automation and artificial intelligence will create a society free from drudgery where everyone can stay home and make arts and crafts (this is an actual quote from a woman I know who makes six figures at an ad agency).
perhaps this is just cope considering that AI will probably destroy most ad agency work.
does anyone remember, at the onset of Lockdowns, how many Covid albums there would be? the dawning of a new creative renaissance? I do…and the exact opposite happened. it turns out that all art and commerce exist in a feedback loop and once you stop the loop, the well dries up pretty quick.
>>>> where all essential wants as well as creative desires are satisfied.
Who says that communists/socialists are unrealistic dreamers?
Oh, and total coincidence, I just started reading a biography of Shakespeare. I'll
report back on all of his government funding!
They have no idea they’ll be ground up in the machine like everyone else, with the exception of the apex predators leading this movement. Did I mention I saw Bernie Sanders flying first class out of Burlington?
It's not communism what is coming but corporatism. Jeffrey Tucker described it well here: https://brownstone.org/articles/how-did-american-capitalism-mutate-into-american-corporatism/
I wish we would be progressing to the idea described above but it's opposite, workers will be slaves in this new system.
In my perfect version of their story it ends like this…..the parents who have paid for their self indulgent lifestyle finally die. They inherit money , which they burn thru quickly because they have the brain capacity and with ethic of a sausage and then …. Well the ending sucks too because then we will have to support them. Or maybe they can work at Starbucks ?
“…liberating their minds entirely.”
A small correction:
“…liberating [them from] their minds entirely.”
problem with marx (ok there's a lot of problems with marx) is that he sees leisure as one size fits all.
for some people gardening is leisure. i suspect a farm worker might think otherwise,
i get the sense that from marx's perspective, all work is onerous. maybe that's how you see the world if all you do is write communist manifestos
As you know, intellectual creativity requires effort. It is work. However, labor often requires creativity and ingenuity. If only video games had existed when Marx was alive. Maybe we would have been spared from the torment he has wrought.