4 ms·

Experiments with the other systems have killed millions. What we have now is a well functioning oligarchy.

Muromec 4y ago
Instilling communism through means of genocide and oppression killed people. So maybe someone will find a nicer way to dispossess people that everyone will like. Whi knows
082349872349872 4y ago
1984 is interesting: to read Goldstein, the oligarchy ("inner party") is relatively benign (it is definitely not based on ethnicity, and is merit based, hence —in principle— not hereditary either) yet to believe Winston (a narrator who admitted his willingness to commit domestic terrorism!), it is still dysfunctional, because apparently the oligarchs believe enjoying their own good fortune doesn't suffice: others must suffer misfortune. (to understand this book properly I think it helps to recall that Orwell was on scholarship ["outer party"] to bring up the exam scores at a boarding school that otherwise catered to the rich and thick [cream of society — "inner party" sprogs]; many scenes in 1984 can be traced back to the posthumously-published Such Such Were the Joys)
godelski 4y ago
> Experiments with the other systems have killed millions. I'm pretty confident we can say this about every economic system. But we can't really say who has saved the most because we can't do very good A/B testing or really any good causal analysis. It is important to remember that economics is not a hard science and most "experiments" are either in the lab (and we gotta question scaling) and natural experiments, which means its difficult to come up with causal explanations.
- swader999 4y ago
  No, you can't. Very clearly capitalism when competition is promoted and failure allowed to happen has had the greatest net benefit to the masses.
  - godelski 4y ago
    I think you're missing what I'm saying if you are reading my comment as anti-capitalist.
- MarkPNeyer 4y ago
  Replace “economic” with “political” and this is obviously a false equivalence. Historically, everyone dies. The right question is “which systems have produced the most new wealth for their participants” and there’s a clear obvious winner there: private ownership and free trade.
  - david-gpu 4y ago
    > The right question is “which systems have produced the most new wealth for their participants” Is that the right question, though? Just the sum of the wealth produced, with no concern to how that wealth is distributed, the effects it had on the population or any externalities? There are wide differences in human flourishing even among capitalist societies, so it may be better to look what other ingredients make the most difference, aside of private ownership and free trade.
blitzar 4y ago
Experiments with this system has killed millions

Instilling communism through means of genocide and oppression killed people. So maybe someone will find a nicer way to dispossess people that everyone will like. Whi knows

082349872349872 4y ago

1984 is interesting: to read Goldstein, the oligarchy ("inner party") is relatively benign (it is definitely not based on ethnicity, and is merit based, hence —in principle— not hereditary either) yet to believe Winston (a narrator who admitted his willingness to commit domestic terrorism!), it is still dysfunctional, because apparently the oligarchs believe enjoying their own good fortune doesn't suffice: others must suffer misfortune. (to understand this book properly I think it helps to recall that Orwell was on scholarship ["outer party"] to bring up the exam scores at a boarding school that otherwise catered to the rich and thick [cream of society — "inner party" sprogs]; many scenes in 1984 can be traced back to the posthumously-published Such Such Were the Joys)

godelski 4y ago

> Experiments with the other systems have killed millions. I'm pretty confident we can say this about every economic system. But we can't really say who has saved the most because we can't do very good A/B testing or really any good causal analysis. It is important to remember that economics is not a hard science and most "experiments" are either in the lab (and we gotta question scaling) and natural experiments, which means its difficult to come up with causal explanations.

swader999 4y ago
No, you can't. Very clearly capitalism when competition is promoted and failure allowed to happen has had the greatest net benefit to the masses.
- godelski 4y ago
  I think you're missing what I'm saying if you are reading my comment as anti-capitalist.
MarkPNeyer 4y ago
Replace “economic” with “political” and this is obviously a false equivalence. Historically, everyone dies. The right question is “which systems have produced the most new wealth for their participants” and there’s a clear obvious winner there: private ownership and free trade.
- david-gpu 4y ago
  > The right question is “which systems have produced the most new wealth for their participants” Is that the right question, though? Just the sum of the wealth produced, with no concern to how that wealth is distributed, the effects it had on the population or any externalities? There are wide differences in human flourishing even among capitalist societies, so it may be better to look what other ingredients make the most difference, aside of private ownership and free trade.

blitzar 4y ago

Experiments with this system has killed millions