Debunking Post Capitalism

Just came across this video titled "Demonetizing Everything: A Post Capitalism World" and thought it would make for an interesting analysis.

He starts by presenting the following list of things which he believes will become demonetized because they will continue to get cheaper:



So I don't know about you but where I live many of the things on this list are getting more expensive over time, especially things like food and energy. But before I start dismantling the logic behind his arguments lets just look at a few more of the claims he makes in this lecture. He proceeds to show the following chart:



What I find quite humorous about this chart is he thinks that in the next 7 years 100% of the world will be online. Haven't we learned by now that these types of over-optimistic predictions about the future are almost always wrong? Just based on the increase between 2010 and 2017 a more reasonable prediction would be 4-5 billion for 2024.

He then presents a chart showing how much video content is being uploaded to YouTube and how entertainment is becoming cheaper, which is true in many ways but then we also have things like YouTube Red now. In fact I remember a time before YouTube even had adverts, that is when it was truly free and open without any monetary influences.

I do agree with what he's saying about information becoming more free, but it's not so easy to demonetize material objects such as houses. There is limited space on Earth and our population is always increasing, so we cannot all own a river side mansion, it's just not physically possible, we cannot all have perfectly equal living conditions.

Unless we figure out how to create a Star Trek replicator we will never achieve a moneyless society. But lets say we do create a replicator, it doesn't matter how cheap it is to build a house because space will still be scarce. Also, many items have value because they were painstakingly hand crafted, like high end sports cars and watches or works of art like paintings and statues.

So how do we ever decide who gets the best houses and the best cars if we have no money? I believe money will always have a place in society and people have a right to own things they pay for instead of society owning everything. The fundamental flaw with this type of socialist thinking is that it's based on an unrealistic view of how society works, a lack of understanding of human nature.

Humans are intrinsically greedy and crave ownership and control over things in the real world. To believe those types of instincts will some how disappear from all people because we will evolve beyond it is naive. Getting back to the video, the next thing he talks about is energy and how there's 8000x more solar energy hitting the Earth than what we use as a species.

However, if many less developed nations were to become more advanced it's easily conceivable we could use 8000x more energy than we use now, which would mean we'd need to harvest 100% of the solar energy hitting Earth. That would be a very bad thing because the surface of Earth would rapidly cool, trees and cold blooded animals would die if they couldn't sit in the sun light.

We can only ever capture a fraction of the light hitting Earth, even if would could capture it all that would be a bad idea. When you really think about it solar energy is no where near enough to meet the needs of humanity without impacting the environment in other ways. The same thing applies the electric cars, producing and disposing of all those batteries creates a great deal of pollution.

They often produce more pollution than that offset during the lifespan of the car, even the energy which powers electric cars is generated largely from unclean sources. Just because you cannot directly see the pollution it causes doesn't mean it's not there. But it's out of sight and so out of mind, people can feel good about themselves when in reality we need to be looking for better solutions.

The only thing that can truly meet the demands of a modern technologically developed civilization is more advanced forms of energy production such as nuclear energy and cleaner battery technologies. Super-cap and graphene-based batteries which don't use toxic chemicals are the future and the liquid fluoride thorium reactor can produce very cheap energy and do it very safely compared to traditional reactors.

The beauty of nuclear energy is you only need a very small number of nuclear plants in order to produce high levels of power. The other main problem with things like solar and wind energy is that they take up a lot of space and often create an eye sore, they protrude on natural environments and require a great deal of maintenance to keep them all operating properly, in return for very little energy.

I'm not saying having a solar panel on your roof is a bad idea, if you can afford that then it's probably a very good idea and will save you money in the long run. What I'm saying is we need to stop wasting countless sums of tax payer money on these band-aid solutions and start looking for realistic solutions which will permanently solve our problems without destroying the planet.

I doubt energy will ever be totally free unless we create a free energy generator, but that doesn't mean we cannot create a world where energy is abundant and cheap. Instead of trying to create a perfect world where everything is free and we all live in a mansion powered only by the sun, we should focus on improving the world with the best methods we have while minimizing environmental harm.

Some relevant resources:

It takes money to be online.

As long as there is a way for someone to make a buck, and someone else to pay it, nothing will ever be free.

a reply to: ChaoticOrder

You didn’t debunk post capitalism, just that guy’s badly done version of it.

originally posted by: ChaoticOrder
Unless we figure out how to create a Star Trek replicator we will never achieve a moneyless society. But lets say we do create a replicator, it doesn't matter how cheap it is to build a house because space will still be scarce. Also, many items have value because they were painstakingly hand crafted, like high end sports cars and watches or works of art like paintings and statues.

I think a lot of futurists are counting on the idea of 3D printers and home fusion power will spark a massive decentralization of the economy. But do not worry if you are pro laissez faire capitalist. Wealth inequality is at all-time highs. Poverty is going in the right direction. The laissez faire capitalists will continue to keep the boot to the throat of the workers charging the greatest possible price for goods and services.

originally posted by: ChaoticOrder
So how do we ever decide who gets the best houses and the best cars if we have no money? I believe money will always have a place in society and people have a right to own things they pay for instead of society owning everything. The fundamental flaw with this type of socialist thinking is that it's based on an unrealistic view of how society works, a lack of understanding of human nature.

Humans are intrinsically greedy and crave ownership and control over things in the real world. To believe those types of instincts will some how disappear from all people because we will evolve beyond it is naive. Getting back to the video, the next thing he talks about is energy and how there's 8000x more solar energy hitting the Earth than what we use as a species.

I agree. It is human nature to enslave and oppress people. Laissez faire capitalism has proven to be the best form of economy to create the greatest amount of wealth inequality without having the currency collapse to nothing in value.

Since 2008 the shift of wealth and power to the top has been astounding! The laissez faire capitalists are thriving!

a reply to: musicismagic

tell me about it. i get 7 measly GB of data for £25, to use on my 'pay as you go' dongle. Lasts a fortnight if i'm careful and don't watch videos. harumph!

Interesting I will try to check out your links later when I have time. If you haven't already done so, John Rappaport has some excellent analyzes of the modern technocracy.

jonrappoport.wordpress.com...

originally posted by: RoScoLaz5
a reply to: musicismagic

tell me about it. i get 7 measly GB of data for £25, to use on my 'pay as you go' dongle. Lasts a fortnight if i'm careful and don't watch videos. harumph!

After I use my 10GB of hotspot data, I have to pay $15 for 1 measily GB.

Madness...

Demonetization... I think that in fact before long we'll have to pay for the very air we breathe. These poor naive souls convinced that humanity is on an unstoppable path of evolution towards social perfection. Evidently what's going is a degeneration where the golden calf is the only god.