jwiggler

David Graeber has written two ~700 page anthropology books that pretty much debunk this entire line of thinking, one of them a collaboration with archaeologist David Wengrow. That latter includes an almost immediate refutation of the utopian egalitarian hunter gatherer bands that so many pop scientists love to idealize, the same fetishization that you're talking about. They're pretty rigorous about it.

You should really check them out. 'Debt: the first 5000 years' and 'The Dawn of Everything', if you want I can pop the audiobooks on google drive and DM you the link.

I literally just came off listening to both of them in the span of 2 weeks, which is why I see such a generalized statement as "Capitalism was a solution to inefficient resource distribution" as a bit silly, because no one just thought, "oh you know what we need? Capitalism! It will be the solution!"

It has an insanely long history originating from pre-coinage, debt-based societies, some of which had huge populations. They definitely rail against the "agricultural revolution > cities" line of thinking, noting that archaeological evidence across the globe for agriculture shows the whole process took something around 3000 years, during which, again, there were mega-sites (essentially cities) that relied on a mix of agrarian and hunting and gathering.

The second book is, granted, more about hierarchical structures in ancient civilizations and Debt is more about social inequality when it comes to money, but I really really suggest you check em out. Lmk if you want that google drive link, I just gotta upload em

Capitalism was an ugly solution to a real problem

Not really, though. I mean, if you want to stick to looking at the last 2000 years, we still have cities that were fed in a feudal rather than capitalist system. Not that those systems were better or more efficient mobilizing labor, but the problem you're referring to wasn't really there.

That's not to mention at least several examples in the anthropological and archaeological record of large scale societies that did not rely on what we define as capitalism to feed their people.

I think it's a pretty crazy oversimplification to say capitalism just popped up as a solution to a problem.

This sub makes me think I have ADHD. Constant multitasking (audiobooks with whatever other brainless activity), or else so hyperfixated on a thing that I forget to eat, 4 empty cups of water at my desk, putting off responding to texts and then three days later realizing i never responded at all, forgetting about a problem I need to fix or errand I need to run until something reminds me of it.

Just juggling a bunch of interests because, with a day job, there's really no way to simply hold on to each one for very long.

Oh and then smoking marijuana.

I'm not a proponent of socialism due to the whole 'state' aspect, but I'd say universal healthcare and unconditional UBI would be the actual first steps toward the moneyless and stateless goal put forth in this comic.

anarchosyndicalism ftw

I think its less about communist countries, and more about the West (in my personal case, the US) believing they are somehow free, while at the same time most of its citizens are dominated by authoritarian structures of the private workplace, forced to rent out their freedom to their employers for the majority of each week, with little option to pivot due to the necessity to pay tribute to the owners of land and property (either the bank or the landlord), while the news organizations are in the interest of keeping themselves afloat, which in turn means upholding those same owners who fund them.

No major news outlet would publish something that undermines its own existence, and therefore is not completely free.

Edit: all that says nothing about state-communism, which historically does the same and worse. And still, I think the US is more free in terms of speech than many

Always a relevant ~~xkcd~~ Terry Pratchett quote

lmaooo too funny. And too real

Ahh gotcha, keeping it all analog is cool to me. Cool pic!

Do you have a DSLR and macro lens? If so you could get away with a cheap desk clamped monitor stand, light table, and camera mount. Maybe some craft foam, to create 35mm masks to isolate stray light from the table.

all in all you could probably stay below $150, not included the camera and lens

I mean, you're totally right until the last paragraph. I don't think Biden locking them up by executive order would shut them up. I think it's more likely that would spark the civil war they're so desperate to have. They're like Kyle Rittenhouse, just waiting for an excuse to shoot a leftist.

Seems like they have grasped it. By pretending like everything is fine and dandy (like, for example, by reading from exclusively positive news sites, as the top comment on this post suggests), individuals become complacent and let things like, I dunno, a women's right to bodily autonomy, slip through their fingers.

Being hopeful to fix something fucked up is still admirable. But you gotta first recognize there's a problem.