Piracy and the Obama Administration

[myk]

Aliotroph? said:
LOL Communism is a stupid joke for anything bigger than a population of about 500 people.

The basics of the communist manifesto are all applicable only to large state economies, not small communities. Regardless of Marx's intent or long-term suppositions, it looks like those elements are here to stay as mechanisms that coexist with capitalist mechanics, at least for the time being. There were never immediate or practical ties between capitalism and an eventual communism, in Marx. The latter was a an epilogue in the description of a process.

You know those science fiction tales that talk about the future? Sometimes they're interesting for what they say about the present or near present, not so much the actual future. Writers, be that Asimov or Marx, are writing from their own time, and speak in contemporary terms.

[GreyGhost]

Mr. T said:

People like buying stuff, it's something ingrained in our collective psyche.

People like acquiring stuff, by fair means or foul - that's been part of our collective psyche for far longer than the urge to spend.

[Spleen]

gggmork said:

How about an evolved society where the majority of the geographic area is set aside to continue the less risky systems that more or less worked in the past, while a smaller island or something is allowed to do contained social/political experiments, perhaps based on theories instead of willy nilly.

That sounds awfully like Brave New World, though I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea.

Jannak said:

It saddens me to see that most of you are apparently brainwashed ... in order to keep the working classes/poor down.

Keeping the poor down? That's a very loaded phrase. Could you please clarify?

[Maes]

Let alone that "real capitalism" is almost as inexistent as "real socialism": all practical applications of capitalism are polluted by micro-politics, regionalism, favoritism, oligopolistic/monopolistic practices, legal loopholes, lack of perfect competition and perfect consumer information etc. so yeah in the end it just ends up being a sort of stale "might makes right" system, where already established "capitalists" pretty much make everyone their bitches (to a degree that even state-owned companies in the most hard-core communist state would envy).

If anything, "capitalism" has come to become synonymous with an extremized laissez-faire policy, lack of workers' rights, lack of any controls/regulations (considered "too chocking, too commie"), while other aspects such as really free competition, market innovation incentives etc. become secondary.

TL;DR: "real capitalism" is nothing like the idealized, romantic, "American Dream" version shown in this old 1948 propaganda cartoon:

Perversely, the same "evils" attributed to "-ISM" in this cartoon, can be found in modern capitalistic systems (worker unions are progressively weakened/delegitimized, agrarian policy is pretty much determined by biotech companies, politicians have very little actual power etc.)

[Abyssalstudios1]

Maes said:

...politicians have very little actual power etc.)

Not that I'm disagreeing with you, but I find it ironic that this sentence is in this thread.

[fruitybubbles17]

I only use torrents if I have already bought something and lost it and don't want to go buy it again.