• lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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    1 year ago

    Signs like that wouldn’t be necessary if we weren’t living in a hypercapitalist dystopia.

    • SaakoPaahtaa
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      1 year ago

      First rule of capitalism;

      Steal copper cables, preferably with the invisible hand

      I mean I know you’re joking but still

    • Aux
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      1 year ago

      Capitalism is the only thing that keeps the society running.

      • ilinamorato
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        1 year ago

        Does it though? Capitalism has brought Hollywood, Broadway, UPS, and the Detroit big 3 to a grinding halt (or nearly so) since April. The US government has almost shut down four times in the past six months because of capitalism. Capitalism shut down high speed rail in the US. Arguably capitalism does just about everything but keep society running.

        And more broadly, by some estimates 2.5 billion people have died since the Industrial Revolution who could’ve contributed to society if they hadn’t died of hunger, war, lack of access to healthcare, and slavery that were caused by capitalism. Capitalism kills proven plans that would help lift members of the lower class out of poverty because they’re unprofitable, or because capitalism requires people to be poor at the bottom of the pyramid. Capitalism leaves 15 million homes vacant while 600,000 unhoused people are on the streets. Capitalism gave us companies removing stock from their streaming apps to exploit tax loopholes.

        If capitalism is a free market, we’ve tried it and found it wanting. For a market to be truly free, the buyer and seller must have equal power; that has never existed in Western society. Our capitalism is actually oligarchy.

        • jaybone
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          1 year ago

          If you are truly free, are you free to form a collective which competes against other collectives?

          • ilinamorato
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            1 year ago

            Sure. That’s called a union; or at large enough scales, a government or other regulatory body. And that’s… really the entire point I’m making here.

            • jaybone
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              1 year ago

              See I was thinking, at that point it becomes a company or corporation. And then you’re back to where we are today.

      • drev
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        1 year ago

        Taking bets, - 31 over/under

    • ZiemekZ@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Or if people just weren’t fucking thieves. Don’t defend criminals.

      • Zhao@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        Buddy, if prices keep rising like this. I will be a criminal pretty fucking soon. Shit is bonkers out here.

      • Tvkan@feddit.de
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        1 year ago

        Acknowledging the causes for crime isn’t defending criminals. You will not be able to condemn these effects away.

      • psud@aussie.zone
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        1 year ago

        You don’t get many thieves in reasonably wealthy countries with reasonably level stratification

  • velvetThunder@lemmy.zip
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    1 year ago

    I was living in a world where I wasn’t aware that it’s a thing to steal cables. Thanks. But aren’t fiber optic more expensive?

    • Catsrules@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Generally when I hear people discussing fiber the big costs is actually running the cables and terminating and splicing the ends, the actual cable itself is relatively inexpensive from my understanding.

      But with regard to stealing cable, you really can’t do much with a fiber cable on the secondary market besides using it for fiber, and you also would probably need to re-terminate it that can be very costly. Compared to copper or other type of metal cables that can be sold very easily for scrap metal. That can be melted down and made into something else or just reused as cable.

    • ridethisbike
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      1 year ago

      Probably, but I don’t think you can easily melt it down and sell the raw materials like you can with metals… Just a hunch

      • Caboose
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        1 year ago

        Fiber optic cables are very much not recyclable, at least with the current recycling technologies.

    • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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      1 year ago

      No, Fiber cables are really cheap. They are basically just glass with some reflective coat.

      It is just that the connectors and more importantly the work of attaching those connectors to the cable that makes them expensive. They need to be welded in a dust-free environment, and require lots of skill to get right.

      • the_seven_sins@feddit.de
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        1 year ago

        Also, copper cables capable of transmitting high data rates aren’t easily manufactured either. Think of shielding, twisted pairs of wires, etc. And they don’t even contain a lot of copper.

    • Aux
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      1 year ago

      I remember when the USSR collapsed and most people lost their jobs or their workplace did not have any money to pay, all types of cables were cut for sale. Even high voltage lines. Man, crazy times these were…