Holla Forums is good about knowing and discussing socialist/communist history, but I don't think that's enough...

Holla Forums is good about knowing and discussing socialist/communist history, but I don't think that's enough. "Communism" used to be associated with modernity and innovation. Some of them succeeded and many of them failed, but regardless, we need to start looking forward again, building the future instead of trying to make the prophecies of some old dead men come true. Right now, Silicon Valley holds that perception of being the illuminator of tomorrow, and we can't let that go unchallenged.

>>>/gnussr/

So what do you propose? we all start tech companies?

This will be the realm of libertarian socialists.

I've had ideas about this.

A synthesis of generalized social anarchist 'organizationalism' (thinking of confederal co-ops integrated within a framework of a larger anarcho-syndicalist union) coupled with (and here comes the New part) a consented effort of shifting the computer hardware and software (FOSS already there and waiting) sphere into the hands of decentralized, co-operative producers. This coinciding with the rapid advancement of 3D printing technology will lead to a new revolution in printing technology (remember the last time? It was pretty historically significant).

We simply cannot let this go uninvolved. This could have enormously positive implications for socialism within the 21st century.

Also look up the work of Michel Bauwens and the P2PFoundation and their theory of "commons based peer production" to go with this. They are already theorizing an outreach to the wider co-operative movement. We /need/ to seize on this opportunity if we're truly after putting power in the hands of the workers.

bump

It will be the realm of lefty programmers. Differences between libsocs and others are not that important when they are so few people able and willing to create software, making a big deal out of these differences and personality issues if they don't make a difference in the design of a software project is a luxury we cannot afford.

Innovation is capitalism's promise of redemption at the end of history. "Progress" is the eschatology of capital, modernity is over. The internet is a product of the American military, the promises of liberation coming with the "development of productive forces" have ended up in nothing but the intensification of labor. That "power is vertical, potential is horizontal" can now be heard at business seminars. We need to end this, wage war against it, take history neither backwards nor forwards (as if it were ever unilinear) but elsewhere.

Just so you know I would 100% be down making a tech startup with fellow commies.

The needs of tomorrow go beyond the technological. With every passing day it is increasingly apparent that our old methods, institutions, structures, theories, that we've inherited from the 20th century and before, grow ever more obsolete in the face of the conditions we are ever more likely to encounter. We have to start creating theories of both a fantastical and practical nature to deal with the problems we face now and tomorrow.

It's especially a problem when we let ourselves fight within the rules imposed on us by neoliberalism. If you take open borders versus closed borders for example. We let the argument be dominated not only by this false dichotomy, but by the capitalist superstructure that imposes these circumstances. As communists we should be challenging the justification for all structures that currently exist and proposing our own alternatives. We should be demonstrating that communism doesn't just offer a capitalist future in the hands of the workers, but that a communist future is different, preferable, and possible.

bampu

This

technological progress is the biggest ideological fetishism in late capitalism. From the billions take companies gain from creating inane and useless shit, to the prevalence of sci-fi fiction.

Startup? We need software, not a business. That software would be at odds with commercial interests, you would have to do it for free.

I'd be really excited to start an ISP.

Now this is some grade-school level argumentation

I dunno, I kinda like refrigeration, antibiotics, and vaccines. And you know. Having an affordable screen to access knowledge with.

How about this. We build a space elevevator, you an all the commies go to this planet, me and many libertarians go homestead on this planet. You have water, I have cheap energy, we trade.

just because stupid products exist doesn't progress is not real.

So Market socialism? Got it.

For the vast majority of human beings on this planet, it isn't. 5-10% of the human population getting cool new toys isn't going to improve the world much when people are still dying of treatable or preventable disease and lack adequate food, water, housing, and education.

If commies win the war for the internet, humanity will be a little more saved… I say seize the internet of production.

Are all commies this idiotic?


Try waging war against technological progress and see where that takes you.

No, we need to go beyond capitalism.

Learn to read, idiot.

Way to demolish your own point. Technology advanced even under bureaucratic collectivism. Capitalism just packages the fruit of research into commodities.

Oh and please don't take away my internet connected salt dispenser with mood lighting.
My social life would be nothing without it.

Eventually yeah.

Why is it so hard for you to separate the idea of markets from capitalism? Why does a company with workers in direct ownership of said not constitute as socialism?

learn to create, retard.

But… where can we go with a metaphorical vehicle? Technological innovayshun is dictated by material conditions; if we had a sane system, we would have actually useful shit such as advanced phage therapy instead of wifi-enabled egg trays. The world right now could be far better than it is with a simple change in superstructure, but we would need to control the base first, before this paradigm shift manifests.

Cool thread OP.
In regard to the imagery assosciated with communism, I agree it needs an update. We need communism to be associated with futurism, clean and green cities, post-scarcity production, and increased leisure and science. This imo is a bit more appealing than a dust covered burly worker in an early 1900s factory. Modern workers don't even identify with blue collar workers anymore. So I don't really understand why we latch onto old soviet proworker propaganda

We can't create a leftist silicon valley (at least under capitalism), we have to make people realise the dangers of automating our existences then leaving the keys in the hands of wall street psychopaths who have already proven their desire to control and exploit us.