this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2023
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Monetisation rules are a direct result of capitalism. Profits are what motivates the decision making. In a post-capitalism economy it would be the needs and wants that motivates the decision making. One of the failures of capitalism is that we assume wants/needs has a correlation with profits, when clearly the enshitification demonstrates otherwise.
In socialism nobody wants to work so good luck with your YouTube. There is a reason for proprietary software being most popular and often more feature rich. What we need is capitalism + more opensource work from us, regular people. Capitalism + opensource is way to go.
You posted this on an open source platform built by volunteers without any hint of irony. π€‘
If you seriously compare socialism with opensource then I'm sorry for you.
I'm huge advocate for opensource software and I can even say it's my life passion and I really know how important the relation between capitalism and opensource is.
You wouldn't have react.js without capitalism. You know what is made in react.js? Mastodon
They could have used different library for js. one made totally by volunteers, but they haven't. Why? Capitalism and opensource provide reliable products because there is a money factor and it fuels development
This is how big tech saw free software until quite recently. Microsoft used to call linux communist.
FOSS basically goes against the concept of private property of software and embraced common ownership of software. Without private property, there is no capitalism. I wouldn't call FOSS communism or socialism, but there are elements in it.
Ok, and what's your point? If you read Marx, one essential point he claims is that without capitalism, there cannot be socialism.
Probably because they saw no use in reinventing the wheel? And why should they?
It's as if you told a revolutionary during the French revolution "You used weapons that you looted from the Bastille, weapons that were produced by the king.". What exactly would be the argument here?
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When somebody thinks that something like react.js wouldn't be possible without capitalism, you can only laugh or cry. If you really can't understand that open source existed long before corps started messing with it, then you're an utter ignoramus not worth having a discussion with.
I don't think you understand what I have said. React.js would be possible without capitalism. But it is made by Facebook (capitalist company). And it must be a really reliable choice if Facebook and Mastodon decided to use it
The internet itself exists despite capitalism, not because of it. It was a public research project.
See, we can both cherry pick.
And you think internet would be as good as it is today without these companies that invest a lot of money to enhance it and hence make more money?
Of course. The infrastructure that underlies it has barely changed. You really don't know much about the subject, clearly.
Yeah sure, than who made 5G internet? Socialists?
5G internet is a misnomer. It's 5G mobile network, with access to the internet.
That's just an upgrade of existing mobile infrastructure. The internet itself did not change. In fact, cellular technology is only tangentially related to the internet in that it can also connect to the internet.
I'm not sure what's so special about react.js being made by a capitalist company. Saying that Mastodon uses a popular library that happened to come out from a commercial company is some kind of gotcha is frankly incoherent.
They said, on a decentralized, free and open source platform, developed by socialists.
Nobody? Look to be honest there are some lazy people that dont want to work but most of us will be happy to work in a socialist economy where we the workers get compensated fairly. Capitalism and open source dont go hand by hand. People is literally creating all of this amazing products for free!! Workinf for the community thats what socialism is. And also the proprietary software is more "popular" because big companies just take open source and make it proprietary then they said they created just look at Apple and RedHat.
huge part of opensource is funded and developed by capitalistic companies. Take Linux for example.
And imagine if you wanted to open your own coffee shop. Where would you get a place for it? From the state probably. But what if they decide that there is no need for new coffee shop? You would have problem. In capitalism on the other hand you have your free will and as long as you have money you can open your coffee shop anytime anywhere. I know it's not really as easy to make money but if capitalism isn't broken by stupid regulations and other nonsense it really can work, allowing you to take cheap loans and start your own businesses.
I live in a post communist country and trust me I know how shitty socialism is
I understand your point on the coffee shop in that you are right. Thats not exactly how capitalism works , if you open a coffee shop and become very profitable then a big company comes in putting out of business forcing you to work for them or close your place. Capitalism is brutal against small businesses. I totally support small business , that's why I believe that people should have more power not corporations.
Free market is a democracy. That's awesome you support small business and if more people were doing the same thing I can guarantee that big corporations wouldn't be a problem.
Another really important factor are regulations. Capitalism right now is way to regulated which makes it really difficult for small businesses to exist. On the other hand big corporations are not regulated enough tho.
We should work on existing system, try to improve it rather than change it to totally different.
Also if you wanted to make a switch to socialism you would have to rob a lot of people from their private property
As I read somewhere , I do not care how much money you have , I care how much money you are lobbying to buy my government. I do not want a full socialist system , I want a balance system where corporations are regulated and social, environmental and moral issues are over profit and not the other way around profit over everything. Capitalism the infinite system that always need for grow is unsustainable.
Your conflicting points on regulation show that you don't actually understand the problems with capitalism.
I've never said it's ideal. But for sure more effective than socialism
Good thing I didn't claim you said it was ideal. And socialism has been proven to be more effective at meeting people's needs every time it was implemented.
My problem with Capitalism is the profit over anything. The environment , workers , resources , quality , control over the things you bought. There are so many examples where corporations abuse their power.
That and the cancerous need for infinite growth on a finite planet, which is destroying our homeβ¦
Not from the state. From the community. And the community would be happy for more nice stuff
That's really naive. You think that there is an infinite amount of goods you can redistribute to anyone who wants it?
Nope, and there doesn't need to be. The market can be planned democratically with goods produced and distributed according to need, and that would in fact require far less work than our current paradigm of producing endless amounts until demand dries up - if demand even existed in the first place - and only distributing to those who can afford it.
But what if one wanted/needed more of some goods than others? It's impossible to plan everything, even when it's "democratic".
And if someone critically needs something, and can't afford it - that's what social help is for.
Stop planing my life, stop deciding for me. That's what freedom is, freedom we fought for.
If you need more, you get more. And this becomes a lot simpler by including more people in the decisions and mechanisms. Leaving it to disconnected oligarchs as we do now is how we get inequality.
And if you want to decide how you live your own life, why are you against being given a voice and the ability to make your life better? Having no voice in your workplace, and having to follow the orders of a separate owning class who owns your time is the definition of having others plan your life.
The objections you raise are objections to capitalism, not socialism. Under capitalism, you only get what you can afford. Under socialism, you get what you need, there is no "afford".
It's sad what a lack of a quality education will do to people.
Case and point, the above comment.