Leeches off of

At one point, when I was a baby still in my mother’s womb, I had cells in between my fingers. Had I been born like that, I would have had webbed fingers. I sometimes feel sorry for those cells: they were instructed to undergo controlled cell death so that I could have fingers. I’m glad that cells can’t think l, but even still, I wish that I could explain, to these cells that I never knew as my own, that their sacrifice was worthwhile, because they died in service to me, an organism far more complex than any cell or tissue could be alone.

I’m glad that these cells can’t feel (at least in a way that I can understand), because I know that my explanation would not be enough for them: I know this because for most of my life, I have understood that people like us are acceptable sacrifices on the altar on the free market., and that feels terrible. I rage at being told that my suffering is worth it, for the Greater Good, because that posits that our lives aren’t considered to be Good enough to be worth acknowledging beyond our instrumental value.

When I think about the cells that used to exist between my fingers, there’s a silly part of me that even feels guilty that they couldn’t consent to the whole ordeal, but I suppose my compassion for them is part of that “greater good” they died for. I know that the free market feels no such guilt at throwing humans into the meat grinder, because it is closer to being a clump of mindless, cancerous cells than it is to a person. And yet, as you say, we’re supposed to celebrate “innovations” — to celebrate ever more rapid “growth” that comes at the expense of people’s lives? It’s disgusting.

A different way to think of this is that capitalism is simply society optimizing for the wrong value.

A lot of critiques of capitalism (not to discount them entirely) ignore factors like consumer and inter-agency choice. And ironically, "free market"eers ignore the importance/power of unions as a market mechanism. We collectively have the ability to stop using companies that abuse consumers, the environment, etc., but largely fail to use it and have developed a culture of ridicule against people who do. Unions are a critical factor in suppressing corporate abuse of workers and consumers.

the latest innovations are always in money making

Look at the history of leaded paint and gasoline in America, and you’ll discover its far from the latest.

There is no incentive to innovate in a way that serves a common good, but there is massive incentive to “innovate” in a way that drives profits up.

The incentives tend to be towards ballooning consumption/spending/debt, which is rarely good for any given individual who isn’t on the receiving end of revenue.

The way I see it, innovation is a product like anything else in the context of capitalism.

Sam Altman wanted openAI to be non profit in its innovation but this was incompatible with capitalism that identifies it as a product with value.

So basically capitalism tries to find monetary value in anything so it can be sold because the ultimate goal is money.

Innovation is a byproduct of capitalism searching for new things to sell.

(Disclaimer : I understand Sam Altman probably never genuinely wanted to innovate for free, this is just a posture)

Oh don’t forget that many innovations don’t come to the surface until companies have gotten their money out of the old ones. We miss out on a lot of technology for years because of that. And then there’s tooling changes leading to companies saying “what the fuck are you gunna do about it?” as they all keep making the same old crap. Sony had to invent the litium-ion battery for their cameras because all the battery companies were fine with making the old lead-acid stuff.

Capitalism doesn’t drive innovation, it gives into it when it absolutely has to but would prefer to not have to do anything new. New is expensive, and so the very idea of innovation is counter to capitalism’s goals.

Pure Capitalism = bad

Pure Socialism = bad

Healthy mix of capitalism and socialism = groovy

how could you say that when capitalism literally fucked innovation into existence?

If there’s no competition, where’s the incentive for companies to innovate or improve in any way?

What if instead of competing we were cooperating towards a shared goal?

So the amount of competition is the exact same as when it was run by the government like crucial infrastructure is supposed to, but the quality is the same or worse?

Sounds about capitalistic…

New government regulation causes companies to adapt or die

I curse the day some scumbag ruined everything by adding the third option “regulatory capture” 🤬😮‍💨

Thank you for transcribing the image