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Root causes (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
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[-] DessertStorms 61 points 4 months ago

Same goes for any technology, from power loom to AI.

Convincing the working class it's the tools that are the problem, and not the system that abuses them (both working class, and tools), is one of capitalism's greatest achievements.

https://www.globallearning-cuba.com/blog-umlthe-view-from-the-southuml/marx-on-automated-industry

[-] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 4 months ago

Yep, I just didn't know how to add that succinctly to the title 😁

[-] DessertStorms 10 points 4 months ago

You're good, the point is clear, was just adding info. 😊

[-] kibiz0r@midwest.social 2 points 4 months ago

Convincing the working class that tools the system creates are free of the system’s agenda may be an even greater achievement.

Conspiring to jack up rent prices is exploitative when people do it. Is it any different when the RealPage algorithm does it indirectly?

I don’t see any value in saying that human behavior is the problem but then specifically carving out an exception for the automated agents we create to amplify specific behaviors.

When RedBubble ganks art and sells it on t-shirts, how is that different from when Stability ganks art and sells it at a text prompt?

[-] DessertStorms 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

the RealPage algorithm

Which was programmed by humans, with biases and vested interests based in and fuelled by capitalism and the rest of the kyriarchy

I don’t see any value in saying that human behavior is the problem but then specifically carving out an exception for the automated agents we create to amplify specific behaviors.

Human behaviours. Machines don't have their own behaviours, only those humans have programmed them to have, again, with those same biases and vested interests based in and fuelled by capitalism and the rest of the kyriarchy

When RedBubble ganks art and sells it on t-shirts, how is that different from when Stability ganks art and sells it at a text prompt?

It isn't, both are automated systems designed by humans, you guessed it - with those same biases and vested interests based in and fuelled by capitalism and the rest of the kyriarchy

Convincing the working class that tools the system creates are free of the system’s agenda may be an even greater achievement.

And only picking examples of ways in which technology is used that are explicitly for profit is cherry picking and twisting reality. The existence of things like FOSS and other ways in which people share technology or otherwise use it to improve society without any profit motive proves you wrong.

AI isn't intrinsically capitalist, just like computers aren't, nor were steam engines or power looms. Capitalism convincing you that its way is the only way to use tools doesn't mean that's the reality, it only means the propaganda is working.

[-] kibiz0r@midwest.social 1 points 4 months ago

So is RealPage not a tool, or are tools not inherently agenda-less?

I’m not saying all technology is bad, but I am saying all technology is biased.

And I’m not saying all AI must be exploitative, but its mechanics are such that the easiest path forward for it is exploitative.

[-] uis@lemm.ee 36 points 4 months ago

I'll repost comment I did recently:

I remember how few yesrs ago I said "capitalism exists because perfect replicators do not exist". Eventually I realised that perfect replicators of information already exist and capitalists made sure we can't use them against capitalism.

[-] LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 31 points 4 months ago

Nooooo we don't want to do critical thinking and systemic analysis of root causes! Modernity bad! People lived better before antibiotics! Math is evil! /s

[-] grue@lemmy.world 23 points 4 months ago

Hence the Free Software Movement.

[-] tissek@ttrpg.network 17 points 4 months ago

What do you mean capitalism WAS a misstake? Did I miss a memo?

[-] deaf_fish@lemm.ee 10 points 4 months ago
[-] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 19 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Doesn't he specifically say capitalism is an improvement over pre-capitalism and a necessary step for industrialized society to reach socialism? He wouldn't have called it a mistake unless he was really pissed

[-] deaf_fish@lemm.ee 3 points 4 months ago

Yes you are correct. I usually interpret people who say "capitalism was a mistake" to mean "to continue to peruse unregulated free market capitalism in light of all the evidence that is causes harm was a mistake". I interpret it this way because I have never seen anyone who was seriously advocating for feudalism. I have seen a lot of people seriously advocating for socialism, communion, or unregulated free market capitalism.

I figured you were one of the free market capitalist type when reading your initial comment because it seemed like your point was very nit-picky on the meme.

Were you concerned that this meme was being made by someone who wants to return to feudalism?

In debian and graphene we trust

[-] sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 7 points 4 months ago

Capitalism was a necessary step in the development of socialism. It wasn't a mistake, it's just run its course. Just a technicality I know and I shouldn't overanalyze but I felt it was worth stating

[-] DessertStorms 15 points 4 months ago

That's like saying "everything happens for a reason" to someone whose whole family has just been murdered.

No. Capitalism was never necessary.

[-] sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

We were never going to transition directly from feudal society to socialism, the peasant class could not organize in those conditions to rise up against their opressor. Capitalism developed the material conditions necessary for a truly liberatory revolution rather than a passing over of keys from one ruler to another.

Yes capitalism is responsible for truly horrific things, that is why it needs to be dismantled and replaced. However, it also concentrated the working class into closer quarters and developed the machinary necessary to move past scarcity.

Sure yeah maybe we could have transitioned from hunter gatherer society to socialist agrarianism and never developed the power structures we see today but that didn't happen for a reason. Agriculture solved the food problem of hunter gatherer societies, feudalism solved the military problem of early agrarian societies that left them vulnerable, capitalism solved the technological development problem of feudalist societies that caused them to stagnate and socialism will solve the resource problem that causes capitalist societies to constantly murder eachother and themselves. Note all of these social structures caused the problems that necessitated the next reorganization of society.

Also, telling someone who isn't already socialist/communist/anarchist that capitalism was a mistake will seem rediculous if they live a comfortable life.

[-] bigboig@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Yeah, but you're talking to an authoritarian, so lots of people being hurt for the benefit of the few is always "necessary"

[-] tweeks@feddit.nl 1 points 4 months ago

But nothing is actually necessary. It depends on what you want to achieve.

The speed of innovation might have gotten a big impulse by capitalism; I'm not sure if we'd technologically be where we are now otherwise. Of course one could argue that we do not need tech in its current form, which is fair.

[-] DessertStorms 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

But nothing is actually necessary. It depends on what you want to achieve.

Food, water, shelter, sustainability, those are necessary (as are human rights and an equal, equitable, and just society), commodifying the necessities of existence and survival of the human race to make a handful of people massive amounts of money and power never has been, and never will be, necessary.

The speed of innovation might have gotten a big impulse by capitalism

Lmmfao

https://tribunemag.co.uk/2020/08/how-capitalism-stifles-innovation

I’m not sure if we’d technologically be where we are

Lmmfao again, thanks

https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/mar/18/fully-automated-luxury-communism-robots-employment

Truth is you've been brainwashed, by capitalism to think it is a good, necessary, and even natural thing, when in truth it has existed for the tiniest blips in human history (and in its short existence has cost, and continues to cost tens of millions of lives annually, not to mention the health of the planet, and that of the remaining working class), and you've been taken in by an appeal to tradition, rather than truth or reality, to ensure you don't start considering what is outside of the box, or system, you've been trapped in since birth.

And evidently, it's worked.

[-] tweeks@feddit.nl 1 points 4 months ago

Wow wow, easy now haha. I don't think capitalism is good or necessary (although if things in general happen, it's part of nature in some way).

I only think it might have sped up innovation, which is also not per se good or bad. But there are probably more possible drivers / factors to that. I know for example that in a communist approach, innovation can be driven by giving the best performing team the lead on architectural decisions. Which is interesting.

My main point was though that nothing is necessary. I fully support human rights, but on a philosophical level they are not necessary. We just want them to be important, we call them necessary.

[-] phneutral@feddit.org 4 points 4 months ago

Tech won't save us! (The podcast with the same title is very recommandable)

[-] CyberTailor@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

were soviet computers ruined too?

[-] SomethingBurger@jlai.lu 1 points 4 months ago
this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2024
709 points (100.0% liked)

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