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Dot-Communism Is Already Here
Posted by
Soulskill
on Wed May 27, 2009 10:48 AM
from the no-in-soviet-russia-jokes-i-swear-to-god dept.
from the no-in-soviet-russia-jokes-i-swear-to-god dept.
thanosk sends in a story at Wired Magazine about how online culture is, in many ways, trending toward communal behavior. Sharing and collaboration have become staples of active participation on the Internet, while not necessarily incorporating a particular ideology or involving a government.
"Most people in the West, including myself, were indoctrinated with the notion that extending the power of individuals necessarily diminishes the power of the state, and vice versa. In practice, though, most polities socialize some resources and individualize others. Most free-market economies have socialized education, and even extremely socialized societies allow some private property.
Rather than viewing technological socialism as one side of a zero-sum trade-off between free-market individualism and centralized authority, it can be seen as a cultural OS that elevates both the individual and the group at once. The largely unarticulated but intuitively understood goal of communitarian technology is this: to maximize both individual autonomy and the power of people working together. Thus, digital socialism can be viewed as a third way that renders irrelevant the old debates."
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Nothing new, but encouraging (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not quite sure where the author got that idea. The US has always been based on the idea that the individual is paramount. In our popular culture, we have always derived our strength from the individual and his willingness to help others.
A perfect example of this is our super-heros. Developed during a time of great uncertainty and world wars, our culture developed personas who were both empowered and selfless. Whether it be an accident of birth (Superman), a millionare who puts his own life and fortune on the line (Batman), or a scientist dealt a bum hand by fate (Hulk), they all are shown to make the most of their unique abilities in service to others.
Such thought processes have traditionally permeated our culture to the point where every child strives to be that hero. To save the world as it were. The results can be seen in everything from local government (simply amazing small towns built out of nothing) to the larger scale of US resolve during WWII and the later Space Race. Thus the communal aspects of working together have always been a strength for us.
The idea of a Big Brother culture is a relatively new one imported from more socialist countries. As if the population needs protection from itself. And for all intents and purposes, it's been causing more harm than good. The government has frustrated more airline passengers than they've prevented terrorists, all while trying to convince the populace to roll over when someone takes over a plane. (THAT is never going to happen again.) They've seized money from countless honest businesses and individuals in an attempt to stop drug trafficing. (Which has been more or less ineffective.) And they've generally created a situation where the populace is either looking for their next handout (excuse me, "bailout") or their trying to cheat their way out of paying their taxes.
Our system hasn't completely fallen yet, but I think the communal internet is a great wake up call for the system. It allows individuals to aspire, self-organize, and express their individuality in a helpful way. So in that respect, I agree with the article. I just don't think it's anything new or anything to do with Communism as a system. ;-)
Re:Nothing new, but encouraging (Score:5, Insightful)
Our system hasn't completely fallen yet, but I think the communal internet is a great wake up call for the system. It allows individuals to aspire, self-organize, and express their individuality in a helpful way. So in that respect, I agree with the article. I just don't think it's anything new or anything to do with Communism as a system. ;-)
Oh, I could play the devil's advocate and think of a stupid roundabout way of showing that Communism is more about empowering the individual to pursue their dreams than worry about possessions. Such flawed and impassioned exercises began to bore me long ago though--so I'll spare you the inanity.
... we're adults now, we're past that.
I thought that the majority of Americans have come to terms that absolute Communism and absolute Capitalism are both bad systems?
I mean, even the most wing-nut conservatives believe in some sort of tax or anti-trust laws and even the most bleeding hearted liberals believe that we should be left a sizable share of our income to our own responsibility and desires.
So why do we move back to a stupid argument between the absolutes of Capitalism vs Communism when the correct solution is somewhere to be found in the middle? And different peoples enjoy different solutions. It so turns out that corruptibility of humans by nature dictates we should be closer to capitalism that communism. If the author of this article thinks the internet has far too much communal activity, so be it. But make rational arguments and don't play on the red scare
I tire of the return to young idealist zealotry and yawn at the attempt to evoke fear from me of one side over the other. The absolutes are both dangerous and stupid.
Parent
Re:Nothing new, but encouraging (Score:5, Funny)
Who said anything about Capitalism? I was referring to the general culture of the US. The culture of individual empowerment that makes the empowerment of the greater whole possible. Of which "Capitalism" as it has been named is merely a side effect of how such a culture operates economically, not a system in of itself.
I'm sorry you have wasted your time on such a long and pointless rant.
Parent
Infrastructure! (Don't fall for Communism Smear!) (Score:5, Insightful)
> ...It allows individuals to aspire, self-organize, and express their individuality in a helpful way. So in that respect, I agree with the article. I just don't think it's anything new or anything to do with Communism as a system...
So why do we move back to a stupid argument between the absolutes of Capitalism vs Communism when the correct solution is somewhere to be found in the middle?
The key is that the Internet is Infrastructure. The tools we develop on it to organize ourselves are just Infrastructure. Open Source software, OSes and libraries are Infrastructure. It makes sense that individuals will sometimes collaborate in their own self interest to build common infrastructure, because ultimately it results in more benefit to individuals in the form of increased economic activity. If you're going to call the Internet Communist, you might as well also tar roads, bridges, water systems, sewage...
Many think it should all be privatized, but this is a fringe view and the view of the majority is that some infrastructure is best implemented as some kind of collective endeavor, and that this is fine and normal. Communism is just a scare-word to make you think that this is somehow not good and normal.
Parent
The Inviasible Gun (Score:5, Insightful)
Middle ground? There is no middle ground. What DOES exist is different questions, but not middle ground. If one tends towards a better society, than a mix of both is certain to be a failure.
The problem I see is that people (of certain political tendencies) give government certain god-like qualities, most common believing government has perfect knowledge, or that anything the government does is "free". Government is simply a business that "we" have authorized a virtually unlimited use of force. Beyond that they have no special super powers. Government can help organize a military to protect against foreign invaders, police that can neutrally handle disputes over violations of social contract, courts to handle issues of contract law and establish statutes regarding the interpretation of contract language to help encourage mutually beneficial voluntary exchange of goods and service.
To say "we need the government to blah blah blah..." is to say that violence is a necessary means to an end. To paraphrase Jonathan Gullible, the penalty for all crimes against government is death / loss of life. This is the difference between taxes and charitable donation or voluntary exchange; people will be most compelled to be charitable with a gun to their head, how could we ever expect to get so much from people on a voluntary basis? If it is a one time thing, I would be inclined to agree, but can you really argue maximum net production through such means? This implies that a robber could keep robbing the same home repeatedly and that their gain will be proportional to the number of times they rob the house. Does knowing which houses are the richest change much?
To paraphrase Richard Saldman
Let me suggest an experiment. ... For one year don't buy or use any Microsoft products. ... At the same time send the government no money, that is, pay no taxes. Then wait. Watch who comes after you for your money and how and with what weapons.
The "problem" with the government trying to regulate the Internet is where do you point the gun, the governments only tool? The government does not do work, it only consumes, with the intent and strength to intimidate by threat do do what it desires... but it is ok because it is the will of (51% of) the people, right?
And just because it was brought it up, got to mention something. I am really getting tired of this "finding a middle ground" / "moderate" position. Moderation is a tool of negotiation, not a principle unto itself. Take for example an accused killer. The courts have the authorization to take this persons life if convicted of the crime, so there is a burden of the court to justify both its use of force, and their authority to do so. In this particular case, it is found that the police in their enthusiasm fabricated evidence in order to make the case go faster. Unfortunately for the police as a matter of checks and balances, their fabrication of evidence and getting caught in doing so means that the accused man must be let go, because an objective measure of evidence, according to the law, is now impossible. One one side, (a type of classical conservative) people claim that unfortunately the man must be let go, and shame of the police for tainting their revered leg
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Re:The Inviasible Gun (Score:5, Insightful)
To paraphrase Richard Saldman
Let me suggest an experiment. ... For one year don't buy or use any Microsoft products. ... At the same time send the government no money, that is, pay no taxes. Then wait. Watch who comes after you for your money and how and with what weapons.
That quote doesn't really work. If you don't use or buy any MS products, then there is no gain and MS has no loss, so they would have no justification for coming after you. However, your taxes are not without gain. You get roads, emergency services, an army, subsidized utilities of all kinds, etc. Just because you stopped paying your taxes, doesn't mean the police won't help you, or your military won't defend you. If you want a real analogy, it would be:
Let me suggest an experiment. ... For one year don't buy or use any Microsoft products. ... At the same time move to another country and send the government of your original country no money, that is, pay no taxes for the country you no longer live in. Then wait. Watch who comes after you for your money and how and with what weapons.
I don't pay tax to the UK, because I don't live there. I don't give money to MS because I don't use their products. Neither one will be "coming after me."
Parent
Re:Nothing new, but encouraging (Score:5, Interesting)
Such thought processes have traditionally permeated our culture to the point where every child strives to be that hero. To save the world as it were. The results can be seen in everything from local government (simply amazing small towns built out of nothing) to the larger scale of US resolve during WWII and the later Space Race. Thus the communal aspects of working together have always been a strength for us.
As a Brazilian bombarded everyday by USA-imported-mass-enternainment-industry, I've noticed that this is true indeed. I find it very interesting that it seems important to find a 'hero' in almost every situation - for instance, in 'the most amazing videos', there was a car with something stuck in the accelerator and the car kept moving in circles over and over. Then, a policeman came, entered the car by the window, and stopped it. The thing is: when you hear what the narrator says, it seems that the policeman saved a thousand people.
I've recently read 'The Quiet American' [wikipedia.org], which further investigates this. As I read it, it seems that Graham Greene thought that Americans can't imagine how other people could want something different from what they have, and how could they think different from what they, Americans, think. I don't know if it's true, but it's a very interesting POV.
Parent
Re:Nothing new, but encouraging (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't believe everything you read. I'll agree that this probably pegs plenty of Americans correctly enough, but I think there is still a large contingent of us which really just don't care what other people think or want. This probably comes off as either arrogance or ignorance or both, but I doubt that there are a lot of Americans running around bemoaning that others aren't like us. Unfortunately, the type of people who do make a big deal out of it are usually the narcissistic types who are going to be loudest about it.
Myself for example, I realize that people in other countries think and act differently, and then I quit navel gazing and go about living my own life. Sure, I run across it every now and again, but it's not something which enters my consciousness all that much, nor does it bother me. Sure, I find it odd, but I suspect that they have just been shaped to think the way they do by the experiences they have had in life, just like me. And that is, perhaps, one thing which maybe should come from your reading, the pot is just as black as the kettle. Sure, I don't really understand how you think, or why you think that way. I can't, I haven't had your life experiences. But, I doubt you truly understand how I think or why I think the way I do; you haven't had my life experiences. The best we can do is try to explain our point of view to each other, using something as imperfect as language, and accept that each other is not insane, just different.
Parent
Re:Nothing new, but encouraging (Score:5, Insightful)
I agree with you for the most part. I'm a little concerned with the idea that not attacking hijackers by default was a bad idea.
Until recently, hijackers did not hijack in order to blow up buildings and commit suicide. Hijackers in the 1980s were very much looking to make a point. You *could* die or be wounded in a hijacking, but for the most part, you would live through it. They might be willing to die for their cause, but it wasn't a foregone conclusion.
Of course, after 9/11, that strategy has changed. And perhaps the government should have known to change their story. But lets be clear here. When the people fought back over Pennsylvania, they still died. I would have been fighting with them, because I know I'd be dead either way and I wouldn't want to let them get away with that, but it didn't help them.
What that story shows is that it's never been a case of us simply being sheep and letting them blow up our buildings and take us hostage. These people are armed and trained how to take over aircraft and to hold hostages. They have little or no fear of death, and their family members are back in the Middle East instead of sitting right next to them on the plane.
On the other hand, I am not trained to take on armed combatants in an enclosed cabin. I'm willing to do it with little regard to my safety, but when it means that others get hurt because of my lack of training and experience, I would think twice. And you should think twice.
Chances are, if this happens again, there's really going to be no choice but to attack. The terrorists have upped the ante and now the equation favors fighting back. Indeed, you may well be racing against time to either dodge a suicide attack or a Sidewinder up your plane's intakes. But that does not mean that the day has been saved, it just means that the stakes are higher.
Parent
Re:Nothing new, but encouraging (Score:5, Insightful)
Until recently, hijackers did not hijack in order to blow up buildings and commit suicide. Hijackers in the 1980s were very much looking to make a point. You *could* die or be wounded in a hijacking, but for the most part, you would live through it. They might be willing to die for their cause, but it wasn't a foregone conclusion.
This seems to be a shirking of the responsibilities of a free citizen. It's important to keep in mind that The Authorities cannot possibly protect everyone, it's just a flat physical impossibility. There will never be a cop everywhere at once. Even with a surveillance state the best that will happen is that there will be evidence of a crime after the fact. And this seems to be something we have lost in our country, the understanding that the police are a reactionary force, they do not prevent crime, the do not stop crime, unless by serendipity. The police exist to investigate crimes after they have happened, collect evidence and hand it off to the State to seek redress for the aggrieved.
The only people whom you can guarantee will be at the scene of a crime, when it happens, are the criminal, and the victim (theft by stealth not withstanding). This means that, as a free citizen, the victim is the first responder. It is up to the citizen to protect himself and his society. Certainly, there is a value judgment to be made, if the criminal has the drop on you, give up your wallet; dieing doesn't help anyone. On the other hand, if you have a reasonable chance of stopping the crime in progress, or it's a crime in which you or others are going to die anyway, you should be fighting. Moreover, we have fallen into the bystander mentality, we love to stand around in groups and watch crimes happen, but not get involved; because, we might get hurt. That needs to stop, the only people that is empowering are the criminals.
Should people have fought on planes before? Absolutely, I don't care how well trained a couple of hijackers are, against several hundred people, from all sides, they will lose. Flight 93 was doomed, in part, by the "be a victim" mentality. The people started fighting far too late, the hijackers were already in control of the aircraft. Were the scenario to go more along the lines of the hijackers starting trouble, and the people on the plane immediately giving them a beat-down (or maybe even shooting them) the plane would be far less likely to crash as the pilots will always be in control of the aircraft.
Parent
Re:Nothing new, but encouraging (Score:5, Interesting)
I have to disagree with you here, the reason to fight back at this point was to make the risk/reward assumption of hijacking not worth the effort. When the people on the plane don't fight they are putting their lives and well being in the hands of people who have already shown a disregard for those people. And "everyone survives" is not true, granted the majority tend to, but this didn't stop the hijackers from killing people. Additionally, this demonstrates to potential hijackers that this is a viable method of extortion and encourages more hijackings.
By comparision, with the current "fight back" mentality, hijacking is much harder and not as useful as a tool for extortion. We have had plenty of stories of people doing stupid stuff on planes not accomplishing much because the passengers weren't going to be victims anymore.
As for having guns fired in a crowded pressurized cylinder at 20,000 feet, I don't see that as that as particularly scary. First and foremost, this myth of lawful gun owners firing willy-nilly and shooting bystanders just doesn't happen. It's a bullshit canard used by anti-gun activists. The data just doesn't support it. Seriously, go try and find stories of lawful permit holders shooting bystanders while stopping a crime in progress. I'll wait.
Second, a bullet hole in a passenger plane at 20,000 feet (or higher even) is not really a cause for concern. Despite what Hollywood tells you, the plane will not fall out of the air, it will not explosively decompress, in fact it's decompression will be rather slow. At worst, the pilot will get a light on his console telling him that there is a loss of pressure, he will put his mask on, descend below 10,000 feet, declare an emergency and land at the nearest airfield which will handle his aircraft. And the passengers might have to put their masks on too. Even a dozen bullet holes are not going to cause a problem. Here, read about Aloha Flight 243 [wikipedia.org] and consider for a moment that the aircraft involved lost the entirety of it's roof, actually did suffer explosive decompression, and the pilot still landed the airplane. The only loss of life was one flight attendant who was standing in the wrong place at the wrong time.
As a free citizen, you are the first response to a crime as it happens. You have the choice to get involved and stop it, or you can sit by and encourage criminals by making it seem like they won't face resistance. That choice has been around a lot longer than the last 8 years. It's sad that the US Government seems to prefer encouraging criminals, but we the citizens need to realize that it's not helping anyone to stand idly by and let criminals take over our society. And the government is certainly doing us no favors by trying to take away from us the tools to do so.
Parent
Re:Nothing new, but encouraging (Score:5, Interesting)
That all sounds very rah rah, but please do contrast your caped and cloaked "superheroes" with philosophers, who try to lay out the biggest problems people face, and the most significant of whom come from outside the US. (I'm not going to try to explain manga here).
US dominance in technology and business comes from the ashes of WW II, where the rest of the world was in ruins, particularly Russia after losing millions to Germany.
This is not an anti US tirade, just trying to bring some balance...
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Re:Nothing new, but encouraging (Score:5, Funny)
By defeating the Iron Sheik [youtube.com].
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Re:Nothing new, but encouraging (Score:5, Funny)
Without getting into specifics, let's just say that the Hulk's anatomy was affected everywhere, and there is a large subset of the Marvel Universe that has trouble sitting down to this day.
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Communal != Communism (Score:5, Insightful)
Adding an -ism to the end of a word completely changes the concept. Doing something communally and sharing is not the same as being forced to share by the government.
Re:Communal != Communism (Score:5, Funny)
Not necessarilly. Bullshitism would certainly make a nice name for the topic the article could be filed under.
Parent
Re:Communal != Communism (Score:4, Insightful)
geoffrobinson is correct here.
Think about it this way.
When you choose to help your fellow man you are happy. You feel a kinship with them.
But when I'm taxed or forced to help in another way... I get no joy from this. Most of the time you feel put out. (Get off your and do something to better yourself ! -- for example)
Parent
Re:Communal != Communism (Score:5, Interesting)
It's not only that.
When I choose to help, it's efficient.
When forced to help, there is an inefficiency; and usually someone making a parasitic living off of doing the forcing.
Parent
Re:Communal DOES == Communism (Score:5, Insightful)
Adding an -ism to the end of a word completely changes the concept. Doing something communally and sharing is not the same as being forced to share by the government.
This is a common misconception. A Communist society does not have a government.
Being forced to share by a government is Socialism, not Communism. Communism is a society where everybody pitches in together so that nobody is in need and private ownership not only does not exist, but is not needed. It's a nice idea, and actually works very well in small groups where all members can police each other, but breaks down on any type of larger scale.
Unfortunately many people still think that the USSR was a Communist country, even though the name itself says "Socialist" not "Communist", and it's to the point where the term is horribly misused. Kind of along the same lines as most people thinking the USA is a Democracy when in fact it is a Republic (or a "representational Democracy" if you prefer more politically 'correct' terminology).
Parent
no. (Score:5, Insightful)
Socialism is state control. What we have on the web is anarchy. Fun, friendly anarchy.
Re:no. (Score:4, Informative)
Which - to quote the tragically overlooked Star Cops [imdb.com] - means "without ruler", not "without order".
I'm sure you knew that, but it's frustrating how many people don't.
Parent
Re:no. (Score:5, Insightful)
Capitalism, socialism, and anarchism are ways of structuring an entire society. The web isn't a society, it's a tool. This is the same fallacy as talking about "netizens." You can't be a citizen of the net. That would be like being a citizen of your screwdriver.
The main thing that makes anarchism different from, say, libertarianism, is that anarchists are against private property. The typical anarchist analysis is that the accumulation of private property leads to social inequality, the runaway concentration of wealth in the hands of a few people, and war. The Microsoft monopoly, for example, is something that's definitely completely antithetical to anarchist ideals of how society should work. Given that microsoft.com is part of the web, and that they'll take your money in return for their software, I don't really think the web qualifies as an institution that would be typical of an anarchist society.
Since copyrights, trademarks, and patents are generally thought of as a kind of property, I really doubt that an anarchist society would have them. And yet I guarantee you that the computer I'm using, the computer you're using, and the computer that runs slashdot.org are all full of copyrighted software. For instance, my computer is running Linux, x.org, and Firefox right now. All that software is copyrighted, and the only reason it was legal for me to copy them off of the internet was that I was offered an opportunity to do so under licenses like the GPL. Doesn't sound very anarchistic to me.
Parent
Re:no. (Score:5, Insightful)
economic man and political man are the same man. If you must dictate a man's economics to him, you've dictated his life and his politics as well.
Challenge: implement economic planning without the coercive power of government. a plan is useless if people won't carry it out.
the real issue is statism vs. individualism. communism and socialism, to the extent that they are different, both lead to suppression of the individual.
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Re:no. (Score:5, Insightful)
Not that political and social structures are on completely distinct axes. If you're oppressed after all, it doesn't matter much whether your oppressor is a government or corporation.
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Re:no. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Not important (Score:5, Insightful)
Open Source (I think that is what it's about) is not communism, it is open source. Putting labels or trying to over-simplify things hinders correct thinking.
False opening statement (Score:5, Insightful)
"Most people in the West, including myself, were indoctrinated with the notion that extending the power of individuals necessarily diminishes the power of the state, and vice versa"
What? Western culture has been about empowering the individual, about heroes. Conversely, communist nations such as Russia and China are less about individuals, and more about "the good of many outweighs the good of the few".
Additionally, the "free" software you see isn't an affront to free market principles, in fact it is an application of "when a product has an infinitely increasing returns to scale, cost tends towards distribution costs", and since distribution costs are free, well, hello open source.
Open source is very much a product of western, capitalist countries that PROMOTE the power of the individual.
Re:False opening statement (Score:4, Interesting)
Western culture has been about empowering the individual, about heroes. Conversely, communist nations such as Russia and China are less about individuals, and more about "the good of many outweighs the good of the few".
I think that's a simplification. The one thing that stands out to me about Western society is the rule of law, rather than the rule of man (I know that's a simplification as well).
Parent
Sokal hoax? (Score:4, Insightful)
The problem with Communism (Score:5, Interesting)
... is that the word no longer means communism. Now it means oppressive government, ala Soviet Union, China, North Vietnam. But these places show no sign of following the idealist philosophy people like Karl Marx set forth.
The concept of owning resources in common isn't anti-individualistic - having neighborhood parks or sharing roads and pipes and cables is just smart resource usage. Probably few people want absolutely everything to be publicly owned and managed, but most slashdotters probably like software and the internet that way.
What makes Marxist socialism Marxist (Score:5, Insightful)
I hesitate to break it to you, but *the* distinguishing characteristic of Marxism is the advocacy of the *violent* overthrow of the bourgoisie. Marx would be a footnote in history if he did not advocate that course of action and have half the world take him up on it.
Parent
Re:The problem with Communism (Score:4, Informative)
So why the need to force it to happen through a government-backed monopoly?
Because, NOMINALLY, the government is accountable to the people and will not abuse its monopoly. A private enterprise owning all the roads will. The market will converge to a monopoly due to network effects.
"Oh, you have a road, how nice. It's a real shame it costs consumers 1000$ to cross the roads adjacent to yours."
Judge for yourself whether that's reality.
In economics, there's something called a Vickrey Auction, where you have n distinct goods and m players, each valuing each subset S of {1..n} at different levels.
(having 23 volumes of a 24 volume encyclopedia is worth less than 23/24 times the value of a full encyclopedia; having a million apples is worth less than one million times the value of one apple: they rot)
It's possible to solve a Vickrey Auction for maximal social benefit (IIRC), and each person ends up paying their externality---that is, how much "damage" they cause to the other participants.
I wonder if microeconomics 101 (supply curve crosses demand curve at the market clearing price) can be derived from this.
But I assume it's the reasoning behind green taxes on gas (you pay for the damage you cause to others due to pollution) and weight taxes (since your heavy car wears out the roads more than other cars, you pay for the repair work in proportion to how much you cause it).
In some economic games, government intervention is preferable to anarchy (in theory). ISTR network construction and/or routing being among those games.
Parent
Completely confused (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Completely confused (Score:5, Informative)
Sometimes it leads to collusion
I don't think that word means what you think it means... How can total volunteerism lead to anything forced, as through fraud or the violation of rights?
Which can also lead to progress.
That is no justification for the inherent violation of individual rights that comes with such actions, though. That is why free market capitalism is the only moral system.
capitalism also demands forced collaboration
Words have meanings, regardless of whether you choose to acknowledge them. Any examples you could label as "force" under capitalism would be restrictions on the violations of individual rights - ie, self-defense or government retaliation against force.
Parent
open source/Chinese communism (Score:5, Interesting)
Once he heard about open source, and so I explained it to him, finishing off with, "so in reality America is more communist than the Chinese." He got this shocked look that quickly turned into a bitter vengeful sort of look, and said nothing.
Web vs. Meat (Score:5, Insightful)
1. "...To each according to his needs." ignores luxury items, which no one needs, but people want. The existence of them makes people happy, and encourages work.
2. It discourages individuals from working hard, as you gain nothing by doing so. Only those with a huge altruistic streak, or similar need for approval have incentive to work.
3. "From each according to his capability". One of the major problems people have always had is to determine who is actually capable, as opposed to simply satisfactory. Capitalism, by offering HUGE incentives, tends to accurately discover who has capacity beyond minimal, while communism does not, resuolting in mediocre people being thought capable, thereby giving them authority.
When you look at the web as opposed to meat-world, certain realities appear.
First, everything on the web is at heart a luxury item. So what is going on is not "to each according to his needs", but instead "To each according to his desires."
Second, The work at heart is realtively easier and ENJOYABLE to some. Anyone that has spent an hour digging a hole and an hour writing code will tell you that. So you don't need to actually encourage people to work hard.
Third, capability on the web is easier to detect. More of it is one-person projects, and those are often signed. Software can be measured for speed, GUI can be easily be examined for ease of use.
Fourthly, most of what is offered on the web is relatively low value, not high value. Honestly, we use socialism a lot in the Meat world - for low value things. People don't pay money for a better subway seat. We use socialism to assign movie theater seats - people in wheel chairs get the wheel chair seats for free, they are not forced to pay more for them - even if they are in prime spots.
The web is not the meat-world. What works in one place will not work in the other.
That said, I find that capitalism still tends to triump over socialism even in the web for most areas where money, the requirement for capitalism, exists. No socialist effort is going to make a web site that beats Google, Apple's itune Store, or Amazon.
Communism doesn't fail... (Score:5, Interesting)
Communism doesn't fail, people who had power failed communism...
Every political ideology is right.... the people who have power, uses that power until they overuse it to their own profit so much that the majority of the people use their personal power ot overthrow them...
The only good thing that democracy has right now is: it's not crooked enough to have the population revolt against it.
I'm sure there will be one day that the people will wake up and know that their system is so corrupt, that the elected officials are only idiots who are popular and that the majority of the electorate refuse to vote because they know that no choice they can make will the right one, when every choice is a bad one...
I can't believe I'm saying it, but.. (Score:4, Funny)
from the no-in-soviet-russia-jokes-i-swear-to-god dept.
In soviet Russia, god swears to you?
Ummm no (Score:4, Insightful)
No it doesn't. Why? Because on the one hand you're talking forms of government and on the other you're talking digital collaboration. Try comparing apples to apples and your analogy rings truer. What may work for pooling resources within a piece of technology may not fair well in societies at large. The main reason being that there are very real political differences not only between groups of individuals but individuals themselves. At the risk of being as guilty as the author, you see the same things within collaborative technologies as forking is prominent. Furthermore, even within companies there is such collaboration so "collaboration" need not equal "communism."
Capitalism quickest way to the ideal communism (Score:5, Insightful)
The Open Source community exemplifies this.
Despite its many flaws, capitalism is the quickest breeding ground for altruistic communal endeavours. When computer communication became efficient, an Open Source community was inevitable.
Re:He is describing Anarchism (Score:5, Informative)
Indeed, few people recognize that one of Anarchism's greatest proponents was a leader in the International Workingmen's Association, along with Marx. Their political (but not economic) differences eventually led to a split in the International. And Bakunin predicted quite early that Marx's "Dictatorship of the Proletariat" would simply be a dictatorship. He best summed this up by saying, "Freedom without socialism is privilege and injustice, socialism without freedom is slavery and brutality".
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Re:communism? (Score:5, Insightful)
Quote from one of the biggest Communists: Thomas Jefferson
That statement made me cringe, because it contradicts the whole body of knowledge that exists about Jefferson.
Thomas Jefferson's quote merely shows that he was opposed to an inventor or discoverer gaining a monopoly over an idea. This is consistent with his defense of liberty, minimal government and free market capitalism.
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Karl Marx's Dream (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Karl Marx's Dream (Score:5, Insightful)
I have a different take on it. I think Marx was indeed railing against capitalism, but not against free markets. If that sounds like a total contradiction, I encourage you to read David Korten [peopleandplanet.net] and Kevin Carson [blogspot.com].
Capitalism is a system run by, and for, the capitalist. There are a number of ways an economy can be organized that aren't dependent either on the state or a capitalist. Are they socialist? That depends on your definition of "socialist."
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This is Free Market economics, not communism (Score:5, Insightful)
I think what people are finally realizing is that censorship isn't greedy, but irrational. Copyright was intended to be very limited, but people like Jack Valenti made a living as a con artist convincing people otherwise. Copyright is government attempting to put a control on something that doesn't need to be controlled, and as people are escaping the abuse of government regulation by way of free and voluntary exchange of information as was MEANT to be protected in the US Constitution, of course we are seeing tremendous growth.
Karl Marx would have called for government to come in and heavily regulate software. Designate a central authority to manage the development of software, public schools train a specific number of necessary software developers, outlaw the possession, development, or use of "rogue" compilers to help protect people from poor quality software that wasn't approved by the state, and possibly imprison people for unauthorized forking of projects arguing that such action "steals" the necessary resources of the state and impedes progress.
Centralized, communistic control over what people develop and how is the way of Microsoft, if not even more so by Apple. Government does give them big contracts too, and many government (public) schools mandate their use.
James Madison and Thomas Jefferson both said that with no natural right to real property ownership, there is no imaginable justification for natural rights over an idea (Jefferson Letters). Does that make THEM Communists?
Further, just because everyone wins does not make it collectivism. Collectivism asks for self sacrifice, that you as an individual is not as important as the many. Really? That is why people develop software? Hackers don't have really huge egos when it comes to their accomplishments? Gee, guess I had it all wrong.
I think the Internet is Communistic about as much as I think Al Gore invented it. If I haven't made my point yet, I don't know what else I can say that will.
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Re:This is Free Market economics, not communism (Score:5, Insightful)
Just wanted to say, nice post.
The idea that online software communities are somehow in any way related to government sponsored socialism is laughable at best. At worst, the guy's trying to co-opt the term and make it less scary when government DOES decide to do it to us.
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Re:This is Free Market economics, not communism (Score:5, Insightful)
"Karl Marx would have called for government to come in and heavily regulate software. Designate a central authority to manage the development of software, public schools train a specific number of necessary software developers, outlaw the possession, development, or use of "rogue" compilers to help protect people from poor quality software that wasn't approved by the state, and possibly imprison people for unauthorized forking of projects arguing that such action "steals" the necessary resources of the state and impedes progress."
It's obvious you never read Karl Marx. Marxism is not Stalinism. Did you knew that under Marx's opinion your "central authority" was just an interim but unavoidable artifact? Did you knew that lacking unsurmountable opposition from the capital oligochracy there's no need of such "central authority" in Marx'x opinion? In the end, did you knew that if the basic premise from this article is true -that capital oligochracy is not able to dismantle those communal efforts born from individuals' free will, Marx supports the opinion that no "central authority" is needed?
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Re:This is Free Market economics, not communism (Score:5, Interesting)
Your post is only true if you pretend subjective opinions are objective truths.
Who is being compelled against their will to contribute? While each individual may contribute to their ability, it is on a voluntary basis. "Each according to their need" is ONLY being met as market demands and individuals consider it in their best interest to meet that demand.
You're defining communism as requiring forced contribution, while overlooking the fact that people are forced to contribute in capitalism. The difference isn't compulsion per se, it's the nature of the compulsion.
In a capitalist society, you have to contribute, starve, or rely on the charity of others. Under communism it's exactly the same. The main difference is you generally have more choice under capitalism because more of the economic decisions are distributed, while the economic decisions are more centralized under communism.
But in neither system can you generally expect to skate by without contributing.
Just because the exchange can not be measured in per unit monetary compensation does not make the contribution "selfless".
Only if you define away "selfless" to meaninglessness. By your definition, it's essentially impossible to be selfless. Take the most selfless person you can think of--a parent, a teacher, a soldier, a nun, a disaster recovery volunteer, whatever you want, and every single one of these people derives some benefit from their sacrifice.
Selfless, is more about voluntarily giving up some good or service at a loss without concern about making up those losses down the road. For example, MS giving away Windows to schools isn't selfless, it's self-serving. On the other hand, someone not set to benefit from MS Windows adoption anonymously giving away the same number of Windows licenses to the same schools is selfless, even if they get warm-fuzzies in return.
Karl Marx would have called for government to come in and heavily regulate software. Designate a central authority to manage the development of software, public schools train a specific number of necessary software developers, outlaw the possession, development, or use of "rogue" compilers to help protect people from poor quality software that wasn't approved by the state, and possibly imprison people for unauthorized forking of projects arguing that such action "steals" the necessary resources of the state and impedes progress.
You're thinking of Stalin and Lenin.
James Madison and Thomas Jefferson both said that with no natural right to real property ownership, there is no imaginable justification for natural rights over an idea (Jefferson Letters). Does that make THEM Communists?
No one is cut from whole cloth. The most capitalist person in the world has some communism in them, and vice versa.
Further, just because everyone wins does not make it collectivism. Collectivism asks for self sacrifice, that you as an individual is not as important as the many. Really? That is why people develop software? Hackers don't have really huge egos when it comes to their accomplishments? Gee, guess I had it all wrong.
Capitalism asks for self-sacrifice. Or is somehow the classes I've had to take to learn subjects I'm not interested in to spend time working in a place I'd rather not be doing things I'd rather not do not self-sacrifice, while taking classes to learn about people around me I don't generally care about and paying taxes or volunteering to help homeless people I don't know is self-sacrifice?
Both collectivism and capitalism demand self-sacrifice. But as mentioned above, it's more a difference in style and choice than anything else.
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Re:Anonymous Coward (Score:5, Insightful)
Whoever wrote that doesn't know what Communism is, at all. What they are describing is entirely free-market anarchism.
Voluntary associations are a natural consequence of limited central authorities. Tocqueville's Democracy in America describes in great detail the amount of voluntary associations that sprang up in the country's early history.
They fill the voids that government and corporations simply can't fill. Sharing and the building of like-minded communities and organizations are not Communistic or Socialistic in nature, unless they are forced.
I hope the internet can stay like this but it'll be a hard, continuous fight. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance
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Re:Anonymous Coward (Score:5, Insightful)
It's more like communitism (yeah, I made that up), where people help each other just to help each other out. It's a great thing, but communism it's not.
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