5 ms·

>What's the alternative that doesn't rely on philosopher-kings or omniscient omnibenevolent central planners? Distributed sharing economies, like that of most

>What's the alternative that doesn't rely on philosopher-kings or omniscient omnibenevolent central planners? Distributed sharing economies, like that of most tribal organizations.

gaius 10y ago
How do those systems manage capital-intensive projects? Bridges and dams and airliners and power grids and so on...
- alanwatts 10y ago
  >How do those systems manage capital-intensive projects? The use of the word "capital" here indicates a misunderstanding of the social dynamics of tribal economies. They produce and consume that which they need together because of shared benefit. Large scale centralized constructions like the Golden Gate Bridge, the Hoover Dam, or power grids are built to serve the stationary needs of the big city not the small, distributed, mobile tribe.
  - gaius 10y ago
    Such a tribe would either be pre-technological then, or piggybacking on a technological society that did make those investments.
    - alanwatts 10y ago
      >piggybacking on a technological society that did make those investments. Indeed, every technological advancement has piggy backed on those before it.
      - gaius 10y ago
        Not the same thing - this tribe can't exist without infrastructure it cannot create or maintain itself. Your caring sharing tribe ain't going to be making a chip foundry or a means of powering it or extracting raw materials for it anytime soon. That needs capital.
        alanwatts 10y ago
        What's not the same thing? Plenty of such tribes exist and have existed without centralized industrial infrastructure.
        gaius 10y ago
        The parent suggests it as an alternative to what we have now. That's not viable unless we want to regress to pre-agrarian levels.
pjc50 10y ago
I'd like to see your anthropology cites for "tribal organisations", please. Especially for those larger than a hundred thousand members.
- alanwatts 10y ago
  >I'd like to see your anthropology cites for "tribal organisations" Look at any hunter gatherer tribe. The key word here is "distributed". Distributed tribes are light weight and mobile by design. So they are rarely ever grouped into concentrations of 100,000+ members except for the occasional festival-like gatherings.

>What's the alternative that doesn't rely on philosopher-kings or omniscient omnibenevolent central planners? Distributed sharing economies, like that of most tribal organizations.

gaius 10y ago

How do those systems manage capital-intensive projects? Bridges and dams and airliners and power grids and so on...

alanwatts 10y ago
>How do those systems manage capital-intensive projects? The use of the word "capital" here indicates a misunderstanding of the social dynamics of tribal economies. They produce and consume that which they need together because of shared benefit. Large scale centralized constructions like the Golden Gate Bridge, the Hoover Dam, or power grids are built to serve the stationary needs of the big city not the small, distributed, mobile tribe.
- gaius 10y ago
  Such a tribe would either be pre-technological then, or piggybacking on a technological society that did make those investments.
  - alanwatts 10y ago
    >piggybacking on a technological society that did make those investments. Indeed, every technological advancement has piggy backed on those before it.
    - gaius 10y ago
      Not the same thing - this tribe can't exist without infrastructure it cannot create or maintain itself. Your caring sharing tribe ain't going to be making a chip foundry or a means of powering it or extracting raw materials for it anytime soon. That needs capital.
      - alanwatts 10y ago
        What's not the same thing? Plenty of such tribes exist and have existed without centralized industrial infrastructure.
        gaius 10y ago
        The parent suggests it as an alternative to what we have now. That's not viable unless we want to regress to pre-agrarian levels.

pjc50 10y ago

I'd like to see your anthropology cites for "tribal organisations", please. Especially for those larger than a hundred thousand members.

alanwatts 10y ago
>I'd like to see your anthropology cites for "tribal organisations" Look at any hunter gatherer tribe. The key word here is "distributed". Distributed tribes are light weight and mobile by design. So they are rarely ever grouped into concentrations of 100,000+ members except for the occasional festival-like gatherings.