Does anyone else feel completely despondent just thinking about what will happen to other people, under capitalism in the near-future? I'm not just talking about close friends and family, but the billions of people that will become unemployed through automation, or see their wages stagnate. Or just considering what climate change is going to do in 30 years time. I'm not even in poverty, but I just feel eerie contemplating it. I used to think that the problem would just sort it self out growing up (naive liberal), but it's evident it won't. I hang out with people from both classes, and the divide is getting uncanny. Loads of people have no opportunities outside of a declining pool of bullsh*t service jobs that only exist to make bourgies feel better. Meanwhile porkies think that there's absolutely nothing wrong with the system.
I was reading a story marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm in another thread that reminded me a lot of what's happening. Everything from warehouses to transport is getting automated. Even services - which provide vital entry jobs - are no longer safe. Meanwhile entire regions (especially rural) are getting cut off from the global economy. Some only surviving on subsidies. The hope I had for the future has been replaced by an expectation of horror. And the feeling there is nothing I can do is driving me mad. How do I put my mind off this nightmare? How do I shake off this sense of doom?
Train for the inevitable revolution or societal collapse.
Kayden Perry
On the contrary, I am happy to know that capitalism will end in our lifetime.
Eli Collins
Know that Capitalism a century ago was far far far fucking worse than it is now. I mean today its worse in some respects, but there weren't mass graves of the working class who died from Spanish Flu, TB, or some other ungodly epidemic.
Always look on the bright side of life.
Nolan Robinson
I mean, even Leprosy was still a problem then. Imagine how easy it was to die then.
Mason Allen
I'm sad that I'm too much of a brainlet for continental philosophy, Kant and Hegel make my brain hurt. I just hope that my lizard brain will internalize them and make Marx and Zizek clearer.
Brody Myers
This should be invigorating you, not depressing you. One way or another, mass automation is the catalyst that will lead to real change.
Jordan Wright
The change being a Brave New World style genetic difference between class that makes classless society impossible without literal genocide.
James Flores
just read Bordiga lmao
Blake Reyes
m8 I doubt things will get that far before Porky starts feeling the heat
Julian Davis
Gramsci > Bordiga
Aaron Martin
Heh. Don't you know kid? Communism will come eventually. If you agitate for revolution, then you're just an opportunist.
Jonathan Rodriguez
not even a little bit no
Colton Anderson
Why am I perceiving it as something depressing though? I don't even like capitalism, but whenever I see shops closing doors in my area it just depresses me. I'm attached to something I don't like, and places where I don't even go.
Another problem I have is that stories like in OP just make me wonder what the point of living would be. Just thinking about it makes me feel so "useless". Which is ridiculous because small farmers and herders did just fine before capitalism. (Excluding diseases and crop failures) And that's a bit what I imagine post-capitalism to be like. Except instead of sheep and cattle you have robots, and instead of growing grain and potatoes you have a pool of (recyclable) material. Except for people like Kropotkin a lot of modern writers have this Venus Project vibe going when describing post-capitalism. I don't want that at all. I don't want a communal cult where we all hold hands and no one has any privacy because "Anonymity is bad :^)".
No, rather I'd go with total anonymity and total autonomy. With the conveniences of modern life, without being depending on economic interaction. I figure I should probably just write something myself
Isaiah Wright
If you feel something and you don't know why, then your subconscious part of the brain causes these feelings. That's something you need to ask yourself. "Could this be me? Do I want to live like these people? What is so wrong about those things? And what is good?" and so on.
Alexander Stewart
Sounds like you were indoctrinated into falling for the muh small business meme. We're speeding towards change, and each of those shuttered businesses marks another step forward. Eventually we'll reach a tipping point, material conditions for the working class will deteriorate to unsustainable levels, and people will either revolt, or the state will roll out some proto-socialist voucher based welfare program to keep the proles fed, clothed, sheltered, and entertained.
Or maybe we'll get some kind of dystopian Black Mirror shit. Who knows? That's the exciting part. The future can't get here soon enough.
Jeremiah Barnes
Read the story in the OP. A voucher system that wouldn't allow the unemployed to build self-sufficient communities would end in a dystopia. Even basic income is not guaranteed to free people. If all the money ends up being spend on rent and basic necessities you're still stuck. We'd need to make sure that either people have access to all necessities (water, housing, food) for free in addition to basic income, or pursue full self-sufficiency.
However the way I see things going in the US, it'll probably end in a nightmare with companies like Google, Amazon and Facebook owning everything while the proles get stuck terrafoam.
Charles Adams
Socialism or barbarism. I think I 'know' which one it'll be.
Joseph Gomez
socialism, communism is inevitable lmao
Caleb Price
Keep up.
Jordan Gray
I think people are a bit too caught up on communism as an 'inevitable' development. What if a few capitalists own all the automated industries, robots, patents, warehouses and all other infrastructure? I think there needs to be more emphasize on how to build self-sufficient communities instead of hoping for 'the revolution'.
Parker Brown
Drown yourself in pop culture and other distractions, don't think too hard and believe that some magic system will come along to save everything. If you can't do that, it's understandable since you live in a prelude to a dystopian novel. Stock some hollow points if you can. If not, pray some sickness takes you before things get really bad.
You don't really need AP rounds if you're just shooting yourself.
Andrew Jones
Not my comrade.
Tyler Gray
...
Wyatt Phillips
If you think it's reasonable to off yourself as soon as things get messy, how do you expect there to be a revolution?
John Sanchez
...
Christopher Jenkins
Since ancient times great inequalities and despair led to violent revolts. Don't worry and practice your aim.
Ayden Flores
...
Adrian Johnson
There is none, there never was. Living can be made more tolerable, but it doesn't serve at anything outside itself.
Eli Garcia
Spending time on Holla Forums makes me feel a lot better about it to be honest. It reminds me that most of the victims of capitalism are illiterate retards who absolutely refuse to stop being wrong about almost everything.
I mean, I'll still support your revolution if you ever get round to it, but I doubt you will.
Jeremiah Edwards
1917 is idpol revolution for porky 1871 is idpol revolution for porky Revolution is idpol revolution Hungarian revolution is idpol. It's fucking absurd mate, but I get what you are saying.
Benjamin Peterson
It is scary to think about stuff like AI and automation, but honestly, what will happen if people like you get your way is far more frightening…
t. /new/
Liam Russell
we have lost anything resembling a real sense of the historical.We are trapped in the limbo of the eternal present, in which it is assumed nothing changes and nothing will ever change.it's as if the nameless billions who walked the earth before us never existed. Liberal historiography regards the past as nothing but a bad dream that must be forgotten so Progress can continue on its endless path, when in reality we are still dreaming, and there is no progress. humanity is sleepwalking into the abyss. We forget (and if we remember, we are uncapable of understanding) the revolutionary passions and great crimes that rocked the previous century. Humanity is still reeling from the trauma of industrialisation, revolution, world war and the bomb.
Tyler King
There's nothing more frightening than to take control of your life. It's better to die standing and so on.
Carter Hernandez
Don't put it off. It has never been any different. It has only been worse. The building of human civilization is built from bones, flesh and anguish of countless of our own, purposefully herded and exploited till they buckle down.
Why does it matter? Marxism isn't about saving or avenging them at all. It's all part and parcel of human species.
Isaiah Wilson
Honestly I don't think there's much consensus here about what people want. There's everyone from unironic anarcho-primitivists to unironic nazbols here. There are people who want to abolish all governments, and people who want to throw everyone who watches anime in gulags. There are people who want a market-based economy, people who want to give free stuff to everyone, and people who want to outlaw automation and make people choose between work and starvation.
But I do agree that letting any humans get their way is probably a huge mistake. The sooner we can hand all power over to AIs, the better.
