3 ms·
Don't forget the vast majority of this has been built on the abundant wealth not found from capitalism but in the form of fossil fuel. This has been an enormous
by astrodust 11y ago
Don't forget the vast majority of this has been built on the abundant wealth not found from capitalism but in the form of fossil fuel. This has been an enormous boost to productivity, food production, and general well-being.
The importance of coal and oil in modern society cannot be understated. It has been enormously transformative.
I'm not saying things aren't good, or that capitalism hasn't been a factor, but that if we're not careful we'll get stuck with terrible legacies rather than more opportunity.
For example: Undoubtedly we have access to more resources than ever before, yet these resources seem to flow up to the 0.1% at a rate that's unprecedented, and the rate of depletion of essential resources is increasing even as supplies are becoming more constrained.
One by one we're hitting "peak" everything: Peak oil, peak water, peak education, peak fish. We really need to radically re-think how we're approaching things when unchecked geometric growth is no longer an option.
So let's learn from our successes and failures and show a little forward thinking. In the 1900s people would go to work day after day for their whole life building things designed to last a hundred years. Today we smack together something over the course of a weekend and spin it off into an IPO a year later. A little long-term thinking would be nice.