An Open Thread for people who want to talk about anything other than that man in the White House. (Talk about that man here. There’s also an Open Thread for Personal Stuff here.)
No Trolls, no MRAs, no nonsense. Well, no bad nonsense. Good nonsense is fine.
Good thing that dude had a hatchet handy on the life raft. The question is, why?
Orgies with sharks sounds dangerous and kind of awesome.
So, are they jumping the shark?
Apropos of nothing, here are two cute cats saying Mom instead of Meow:
Wait if they’re having an orgy with the sharks how do they deal with the sharkskin? It’d be like having sex with a roll of sandpaper.
Random musing on socioeconomics (am I doing this Open Thread thing right?):
What are the possible proposals for a system which actually manages to implement “from each according to ability, to each according to need”? Will it inevitably lead to a command economy if attempted globally?
The unequal distribution of resources and the need to transport said resources for distribution (with all the attendant problems of how to build, maintain and power said transport system) would probably require a high level of coordination. Would such a coordinating body inevitably become a State? And how would the expenditures of said coordination and transport be accounted for? Would money still be a thing in such a system, even if in the sense of “internal unit for accounting”?
@JS,
http://www.gifdivision.com/uploads/4/6/0/3/46032175/12_-_3arp0tf.gif
Hey, what’s up! It’s been a minute. I’ve become obsessed with minecraft. It’s taken the place of Dark Souls, but I really want to go back to Dark Souls I think, but 30 minutes building machines is so rewarding.
@ariblester I’m not an economist, but I don’t think it necessarily has to. One of the bigger issues is that we cannot avoid globalization, since we sprung out of a culture of imperialism. But my brain spins off into too many ideas to make much of a coherent discussion on something so big.
@dikdik
Thanks for your reply. I guess that where I’m coming from is that the way that the world has been for the whole of human history, humans have been moving into areas which, without opportunity for resupply, we’d probably have died trying to settle a long time ago. Whether that’s a direct consequence of imperialism or not, that’s kinda the world that we’ve inherited.
So, if we want to continue living where we live, instead of migrating en masse and concentrating into disparate self-sufficient communes (and that’s a big “if”, I concede), we would probably still need good lines of supply and communication globally. How would such a system work absent a centralized entity for coordination? I’m too unimaginative to come up with a proposal as yet, which is why I’m tossing it out there.
@ariblester
What do you mean
@Ariblester
Well, first you have to acknowledge that that’s a simplified slogan that hides a myriad of complexity, and frankly isn’t terribly well adapted to modern circumstances. The short answer is universal income, sharp limits on personal wealth accumulation, and automate, automate, automate. Also economic democracy.
No, a command economy is entirely incapable of achieving such a condition. They’re doing well for anyone to have what they need, and don’t even get me started on the waste of talent.
Any kind of human endeavor does.
Depends heavily on what you mean by state. And coordinating body, for that matter.
Yes.
Well, right now we have lines of global supply and communication without any centralized coordinating entity.
Nanobots!
Nanobots are the answer. Pour a source of atoms into the hopper, and have the nanobots turn the atoms into whatever you need.
I have a Minecraft realms free 30 day trial set up. anyone interested in joining? Don’t know if I’ll subscribe after the 30 days but it might be fun for a while.
@Fabe
Maybe me? What were you thinking to do with the realm?
@dikdik
I think we’re pretty much in agreement, actually. My point was basically “if humans didn’t trade with other people from other areas, they’d lack the resources to live in extreme environments,”. And I personally don’t think that it was imperialism per se as much as trade that led to humans being able to settle in such extreme places. Of course, there are unquestionably myriad unsustainable practices in how we live nowadays, some of which are indeed the legacy of imperialism (which I’ll touch on below).
@Dalilama
That was a very comprehensive answer. Thanks a lot for that, it’s really helped me to collect my thoughts.
Re: “lines of supply and communication globally”
Upon re-reading my comment, I think that I may have left my argument incomplete, or skipped a few steps along the way. Let me try again.
I’m not saying that we don’t have a functioning global system of communications and transport. However, that’s not the end of the story.
Yes, we currently have such a functioning system in place – for certain values of “function”. The Global South is ignored at the moment, and the lines of transport in those regions, mostly built during the imperialist era, generally run from poor countries to the rich in one direction only. In addition, fast and reliable lines of communication run mostly between rich countries.
If we were aiming for equitable distribution of resources, then these lines need to serve all regions equally well.
(But then who would build them up, and how would the path of said lines be decided? The current method involves national and state governments acting in their self-interest, which may not always align with the interests of the masses, especially in kleptocracies or dictatorships.)
But such an infrastructure, even if it existed, is a necessary but not sufficient condition for equitable distribution. Even in a state of perfect access to communications and transport, a “free-market” system would still distribute resources not by need, but by ability to pay, resulting in inequity.
I therefore (naively, perhaps) assume that in order to reach such a state of perfect resource- and information-sharing, everything needs to run through a central clearing-house, which then disburses the resources as needed, and also works to decide how to lay down the supply lines in a manner as to ensure equitable distribution. Which is what I mean by “coordinating entity”.
However, the system then begins to resemble a top-down command economy, which is generally considered inefficient, and which has a danger of mutating into a bureaucracy, and thence to an authoritarian State.
Faced with such a situation, my imagination runs out. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(It also at this point that I begin to suspect that I am probably way out of my depth.)
Longtime lurker, first post, apologies if this doesn’t work properly…just thought this was the best unintentional ad placement ever. Ominous warning indeed!
[img]http://i.imgur.com/fsyRUYy.png[/img]
@Dalilama
I also just realized that I completely forgot to respond to your proposal for a decentralized but equitable society. I am intrigued and wish to subscribe to your newsletter,.
If you’ll permit me to impose, I’d like to continue along this thread. Do you see any potential issues concerning people forming corporations as an end-run against limits on personal wealth accumulation? Will inheritance be permitted in such a society? How would such a society impact individual craftsmen (who may require capital investment in excess of the universal income)? And does “economic democracy” refer to “voting with your dollars”, or is it something else entirely?
That picture reminds me of playing Age of Mythology. Which I did, like, six hours ago. I spent an entire mission with three women riding sharks as my entire navy, and they took down a few dozen warships by the end of the level. The Nereids might be the subjects and only beneficiaries of such a 10-year orgy.
Stop hurting the lady’s shark, guys. She’s just trying to murder you and then spend time with her friends.
@Fabe:
Yes.
@Fabe
I might give it a try.
@dikdik, Ej & Petal
OK, I just need your minecraft names and I’ll add you to the list. I don’t really have a plan other then maybe building a base of operations and exploring the realm since it’s just a free trail so just do what you want to do.
This thread needs a troll…
You are all just (whatever it is that I don’t like… )!!!
Whu… oh, no trolls? Sorry, I’ll see myself out….
🙂 😉 :p
Good news! The sex bots are here! Quick, tell the MRAs!
A sex bot
Dodom, that is hilarious!!
Wonder Woman was years ahead of the MGTOW crowd…
http://68.media.tumblr.com/d5017922f23c18a5135b9e3c5a48eddb/tumblr_olzxttdVgk1u1hhkco1_1280.png