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There were mines in communist countries too. I think the claim of the article is that without the profit motive there wouldn't also have been the interest in e
by pg 16y ago
There were mines in communist countries too. I think the claim of the article is that without the profit motive there wouldn't also have been the interest in exploring new markets that produced the drill that saved the miners. And they have a point there, because a lot of the technology used in communist countries was copied from capitalist ones. Communist countries would have been even poorer without capitalist ones doing R&D for them.
- tptacek 16y agoThey were mining gold, in a mine that had a history of prior safety accidents. Also, what does this have to do with "capitalism vs. socialism"? I'm a capitalist, and I think this op-ed is ridiculous.
- ryandvm 16y agoAgreed. Technology put them in, and technology got them out.
- tptacek 16y agoI fully agree with you that this writer's argument is a logical no-op, but I don't think the writer agrees.
- maxharris 16y agoAnd this technology was developed how? People did it, and they did within a very specific context, without which their achievements would not have been possible. One very important element of that context is the presence of a system of social organization that protects their individual rights, leaving them free to think and act. Without these rights, that technology could not exist.
- pg 16y agoI don't see what mining gold or dangerous conditions have to do with this. You could have both without capitalism. The reason I used communist countries as an example is that they're the main recent instance of industrialized societies that didn't have the profit motive to drive innovation, and they support the point made in the editorial. I'm done with this conversation now. This seems likely to turn into the sort of thread that's more of a lawyerly style debate than a collaborative search for truth, and I have a lot to do today.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- spokey 16y ago> [A] lot of the technology used in communist countries was copied from capitalist ones. Communist countries would have been even poorer without capitalist ones doing R&D for them. But the "communist countries" you are talking about were largely economic backwaters to begin with. That's the same as saying "2nd/3rd world countries would have been even poorer without 1st ones doing R&D for them. Look to some of the "social democracies" for counterexamples to "communist == poor" and "communist == not innovative".
- kthanx 16y agoThe article is trying very hard to imply that Obama is an anti-capitalist who, by wanting to shut down all privately owned companies in the US would, if he could, have stopped the innovation needed for the rescue. It is ridiculous, but that is why he is only alluding to it - if he were to spell it out, the insanity would be too obvious. (but I did learn a bit about the operation and the technology used in the operation, and for that I am grateful)