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Even when the means of production are in the hands of the workers, that presumably doesn't necessarily equate to accepting the workers tinkering all day, gettin
by zapzupnz 6y ago
Even when the means of production are in the hands of the workers, that presumably doesn't necessarily equate to accepting the workers tinkering all day, getting nothing done.
- Privacy846 6y agoI don’t know what this means.
- sudosysgen 6y agoWhat they are saying is that in a hypothetical communist/socialist society, even if the entirety of production is organized by workers, it doesn't mean that they aren't going to be productive in actually building stuff, nor that they aren't going to get stuff done. How that relates to your argument I don't exactly know, but I guess it could be interpreted as saying that even if you admit that philosophy doesn't mean that you can't produce ""profit"" - especially if it is limited to software. Also, in theory, you could be 100% accept communist philosophy yet operate a for profit business.
- yellowapple 6y agoIt does, however, typically necessitate the workers actually owning those means of production, which in the case of software typically entails either in-house development or the use of free software. The notion of any worker "owning" non-free software is illusory, at best.
- sudosysgen 6y agoIndeed. Writ large, socialism isn't compatible with intellectual property, which I guess is part of the reason why early tech culture (and also nowadays but less so) has so many libertarian socialists.
- ineedasername 6y agoand also nowadays but less so) has so many libertarian socialists Maybe it's the HN bubble, but tech culture these days seems to have a strong element of anarcho-capitalism, taking the usual minarchism of libertarian thought just a small step further.
- sudosysgen 6y agoAnarcho-capitalism and the general right-libertarian tendencies in tech culture are virulently opposed to libertarian socialism, though. That said, I agree with your appraisal.
- yellowapple 6y agoThe HN bubble definitely has a lot to do with that, since the startup culture tends to hold capitalism on a pedestal.