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In that case we will need to decouple money from power, somehow. Starting by no longer equating giving money to politicians as an exercise in free speech would

by Arrath 4y ago

In that case we will need to decouple money from power, somehow. Starting by no longer equating giving money to politicians as an exercise in free speech would be as good a place as any to start.

rglullis 4y ago
There is a much easier way to do it [0], we just need to be willing to get rid of Corporativism. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31317641 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31317641
- Arrath 4y ago
  "- no business entity can have more than 150 people." How is that supposed to work with any labor intensive process? E.g. I work on a construction project where there are over 220 field craft workers on day shift alone. Office staff and inspectors are another 100 or so. Night shift adds yet more. Should each of those be its own business entity?
  - rglullis 4y ago
    Yes, or your company will have to invest in automation. Both alternatives are good. Third option, we stop working on such large projects, and focus our collective efforts on making our societies and our environments more human-scaled. Again, it is an option that I see as good.
    - Arrath 4y ago
      At first brush, it seems that any gains in automation will immediately be offset by duplication of administrative minutiae in all these new, smaller business entities. Administration, payroll, regulatory compliance, safety programs, training programs etc etc this is the absolute opposite of improved productive ability, is it not? As to the third option, 'human scale' is just cresting 8 billion individuals. We will never escape the need for massive infrastructure projects.
      - rglullis 4y ago
        > Administration, payroll, regulatory compliance, safety programs, training programs... These can be outsourced, automated and/or reduced in scope. Each company would be a lot more specialized in their function, so it wouldn't make sense to keep the same set of regulations and policies that we use for larger corporations. > We will never escape the need for massive infrastructure projects. Au contraire, I think that we only push for "massive infrastructure projects" because we are addicted to growth. Governments push for growth as a way to keep financing their debts, corporations push for growth as a way to justify their existence. If we were limited in our ability to grow and established that things needed to be settled organically, cities would be more dispersed but still dense and suburbia would not exist. Global trade would be impacted, but we would be forced to re-learn how to manufacture things locally. Governments would have to figure out ways to sustain the populations with tighter constraints, but we would not get things like the European dependency on Russian gas, etc.

by Arrath 4y ago

In that case we will need to decouple money from power, somehow. Starting by no longer equating giving money to politicians as an exercise in free speech would be as good a place as any to start.

rglullis 4y ago

There is a much easier way to do it [0], we just need to be willing to get rid of Corporativism. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31317641 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31317641

Arrath 4y ago
"- no business entity can have more than 150 people." How is that supposed to work with any labor intensive process? E.g. I work on a construction project where there are over 220 field craft workers on day shift alone. Office staff and inspectors are another 100 or so. Night shift adds yet more. Should each of those be its own business entity?
- rglullis 4y ago
  Yes, or your company will have to invest in automation. Both alternatives are good. Third option, we stop working on such large projects, and focus our collective efforts on making our societies and our environments more human-scaled. Again, it is an option that I see as good.
  - Arrath 4y ago
    At first brush, it seems that any gains in automation will immediately be offset by duplication of administrative minutiae in all these new, smaller business entities. Administration, payroll, regulatory compliance, safety programs, training programs etc etc this is the absolute opposite of improved productive ability, is it not? As to the third option, 'human scale' is just cresting 8 billion individuals. We will never escape the need for massive infrastructure projects.
    - rglullis 4y ago
      > Administration, payroll, regulatory compliance, safety programs, training programs... These can be outsourced, automated and/or reduced in scope. Each company would be a lot more specialized in their function, so it wouldn't make sense to keep the same set of regulations and policies that we use for larger corporations. > We will never escape the need for massive infrastructure projects. Au contraire, I think that we only push for "massive infrastructure projects" because we are addicted to growth. Governments push for growth as a way to keep financing their debts, corporations push for growth as a way to justify their existence. If we were limited in our ability to grow and established that things needed to be settled organically, cities would be more dispersed but still dense and suburbia would not exist. Global trade would be impacted, but we would be forced to re-learn how to manufacture things locally. Governments would have to figure out ways to sustain the populations with tighter constraints, but we would not get things like the European dependency on Russian gas, etc.