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That progress has nothing to do with capitalism. Almost any economy can create technology. Even the soviet union's ridiculous bureaucracy was able to bring rapi
by creatonez 4y ago
That progress has nothing to do with capitalism. Almost any economy can create technology. Even the soviet union's ridiculous bureaucracy was able to bring rapid world-changing technological progress to some of the most under-developed siberian wilderness.
Describing it in what you call "relative terms" describes the unjust exploitation, the shackles that chain people while pretending to free them. The shackles that prevent all this progress from actually allowing people to work less (examine this: did "leisure time" actually continue to increase after the industrial revolution took us out of farming? or did it level off everywhere except for outliers like germany and france?)
- csallen 4y agoTo say that capitalism has nothing to do with progress is bewildering to me. Sure. Even dictatorships have created technology before. But that doesn't mean that capitalistic markets don't create technology at a rapid pace. They certainly do. Also, the Soviet Union was also chock full of starving people, and had trouble keeping grocery store shelves stocked and determining how many screws to send to factories, because they weren't allowing markets to determine prices based on supply and demand, and instead tried to control that from the top down It's not efficient and it doesn't last. Where is the Soviet Union now? And there's more to progress than just working less. I'd rather work 40 hours/week at an air conditioned desk doing knowledge work than 40 hours inhaling coal or working in a dangerous factory. And I like that I don't have to spend 20 hours a week cleaning, washing, repairing, etc., due to a lack of efficient tools and technology and industries to help with that kind of stuff. If there hasn't been meaningful progress, then exactly what era would you like to go back to and live in?