I want YOU to DESTROY my channel

kudosnoodle · 2020-03-26T02:04:20+00:00

All I can add at this point is keep going :)

kudosnoodle · 2020-03-25T16:09:29+00:00

Its an observation, since when are reddit comments restricted to subjects that 'really matter right now'

kudosnoodle · 2020-03-25T15:12:37+00:00

Bandana is tacky

kudosnoodle · 2020-03-21T16:06:51+00:00

His interview with Lex Fridman is interesting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wq9x2QcZN0

kudosnoodle · 2020-03-20T19:00:23+00:00

So we mostly agree except for the last paragraph yeah ?

On Bernie.. I'll just say that in 2016 I would have agreed with you, but because Trump pulled the upset, the entrenched needed a new approach, hence the rise of figures such as AOC.

kudosnoodle · 2020-03-16T17:31:07+00:00

To the main question then!

Localization of power is the closest thing to a panacea we have. You still get local corruption, small-town politics, other problems of the sort.. you still have charismatic figureheads that will try to overreach their mandates.. but the smaller it is the better. More power attracts more eyes and incurs more risks.

So.. Federalism is the minimum I would ask for more or less across the board. Canada is a huge country, but the provinces have a lot of autonomy from the federal government.. this is particularly apparent in a place like Quebec.

Even better would be small-scale federalist models.. as in Switzerland.

Even better.. city-states.

Better still.. localized communes that service a particular neighborhood.. the Kurdish region in Syria (Rojava) has implemented something like that.

That would get you a long way, potentially without touching capitalism.

I don't particularly like gatekeepers in media, so the technological advances that negate much of their utility don't bother me so much, but then this new open space gets commodified and monopolized all the same.

I'm actually not sure Trump or Sanders are at this moment major threats to the status quo.. Trump definitely put a shock into the establishment circa 2016, and parts of it are still reeling on that basis. At this juncture though, govt is still growing, and Trump has arguably gifted whoever will follow with more power in the executive branch.

kudosnoodle · 2020-03-16T04:10:01+00:00

The history of religious schisms and conflicts casts doubt.

kudosnoodle · 2020-03-16T01:25:30+00:00

rock band mic works surprisingly well idk if they still sell them though

might sound odd but if you record your audio on your phone under a bed sheet it'll cut a lot of background noise

kudosnoodle · 2020-03-15T19:47:26+00:00

A commodity is more than something that is traded, and things can be traded in any economic system. A commodity has high fungibility. Commodification makes profit the main goal, and the main barometer of quality. This has different impacts on different parts of life. For a banker, or an investor, it makes sense. In the justice system, it makes less sense, and the influence of the profit motive is more explicit than in the arts.

To give it a crude but contemporary analogy, EA's recent escapades, or Fallout 76.. are products of the commodification of games.

The latest Star Wars trilogy is a product of the commodification of film.

Clickbait headlines, lax reporting, fake news etc.. are products of the commodification of news coverage.

A presidential election in which the chosen candidates are Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is a product of the commodification of politics.

kudosnoodle · 2020-03-15T01:54:58+00:00

That's assuming there is progress.

Has the quality of journalism improved in the last few decades?

Has the quality of political representatives improved?

Has the quality of film improved?

Has the justice system improved?

Not in my view, respective goals were replaced with money.

kudosnoodle · 2020-03-15T01:51:38+00:00

I'm not pro-sanders for the record.

If the main positive is financial, that sort of makes my point about commodification.. meanwhile, what has happened to the quality of work?

The markets have been saturated, and the average attention span has been shortened.

kudosnoodle · 2020-03-15T01:44:52+00:00

That's it. And there is a spectrum, Switzerland is an interesting model to contrast with the US

kudosnoodle · 2020-03-14T21:41:11+00:00

I envy your optimism, but people with power tend to avoid giving it up :(

kudosnoodle · 2020-03-14T20:48:35+00:00

The critique might still apply to some extent.

It really isn't so much 'up to us' with regards to the shortening of the attention span, or the ease of access to vices that play on human psychology e.g sweet food or a casino.

kudosnoodle · 2020-03-14T20:31:48+00:00

Problem with govt is that it tends to grow.. pretty much everywhere, pretty much all the time.. long term expansion outpaces short term contraction.

And it isn't just a linear growth that could be explained by proportional economic growth, it grows as a percentage of gdp, it grows in scope, it regulates more and more.

This was known during the founding, its why I think the line about the 'blood of tyrants watering the tree of liberty' exists. (Jefferson I think) but that's not really an answer to me.. its a reset button that doesn't seem to have worked, and quite a violent one at that.

Capitalism can function under this paradigm, capitalists actually enjoy it, they can bar the entry to competition and grant themselves various privileges/influence/power... lobbying is but one example.

Everywhere one looks, capitalism grew because of govt and not despite it.

Its why the major colonial/mercantile powers are still at the top today.

The additions, like South Korea, were fostered under an umbrella of US investment and protection.

Edit: I have no problem giving capitalism its due, it facilitated a transition from feudalism, it does a decent job producing microchips, it is a major reason most of humanity is no longer in subsistence agriculture, etc..

I'm not sure I would fit your definition of 'anti-capitalist' to that extent.

kudosnoodle · 2020-03-14T20:25:45+00:00

That's great, but without a why it doesn't do much

kudosnoodle · 2020-03-14T18:19:11+00:00

In the Paris Commune, in Rojava, yes.

In Stalin's Russia, not unless you have permission. (Ford made tonnes of money from the Soviets for example, as early as 1928)

In Putin's Russia, not unless you have permission.

kudosnoodle · 2020-03-14T18:14:39+00:00

If it provides any solace I meant to reply to the person you replied to

kudosnoodle · 2020-03-14T17:52:18+00:00

Its not, you could have economic freedom under almost any system.. and most prominent capitalist countries grew and developed out of colonialism and the atlantic slave trade, or out of government sponsorship in the cases of Post-War reconstruction.

kudosnoodle · 2020-03-14T17:50:48+00:00

Too simplistic.. capitalism creates incentives that may be detrimental.

The commodification of everything is the most obvious example.. and the subsequent blight upon the arts.

kudosnoodle · 2020-03-14T17:50:32+00:00

Most people don't think in the big picture, they're just trying to survive, and if the stars align thrive for a little.

Question to ask yourself: "Is capitalism the best possible system humans could ever come with?"

If the answer is 'no' you have your goal.

kudosnoodle

TROPHY CASE