Friday, January 27, 2012

"Capitalism is Making Humanity Obsolete"

I continue to be absolutely amazed at how far the World Economic Forum discussion about "capitalism" advances.

The BBC has aired an interview with Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm, who in the tradition of the other discussants, fails to make a clear distinction between capitalism and government intervention on behalf of insider operators. Adbusters features the interview with the subtitle, "Capitalism is making humanity obsolete". And indeed, in this interview, Hobsbawm comes pretty close to declaring that, since he states that "capitalism" is creating a situation where there will be no jobs.

If there are no jobs, its because minimum wage laws are extremely high, or otherwise we are all in some never, never land with all our wants fulfilled. But Hobsbawm's world seems to somehow be one where machines somehow takeover all tasks and so the "capitalist" have no use for most of humanity. Allowing just for a moment Hobsbawm's absurdity, he does not address the question that perhaps maybe, if the fat capitalists are completely satisfied, that there would be plenty of opportunity for up and coming entrepreneurs to feed, clothe and house the starving masses, and thus also employ them.


14 comments:

  1. This is the kind of feeble thinking I would expect from a dock worker or some body that hasn't really thought about what it would mean to live in a society where humans don't have to do mundane tasks to justify their existence. To hear a Marxist cry about this is even more laughable given their view that everything is worth the labor put into it. Wouldn't that be nirvana for the Marxist, where everything would cost nothing since the labor value will be zero? And following Marxist logic wouldn't that spell the end for the capitalist looking to accumulate vast sums of wealth since there would be nothing to sell (since if man is replaced then there would be no value for inventors or inventions since the machines would fill that role) and no one to buy what ever he would be offering?

    Of course we all know that the roles that humans will fill in society will simply shift to other things that most of us can't even imagine. I would also imagine that the amount of work necessary for one to do to survive would fall dramatically with the cost of living. This is the same idiotic argument that has been made since the industrial revolution and yet all of us, including even the poorest among us live better then the average wealthy person of those times.

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  2. What a shame that a man can reach 94 and not come to understand economics.

    All the while, in our digital age, it's available for even the common man to understand.

    To reach such an age and hold on to such nonsense, can only be attributed to stubbornness.

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  3. I'd like to be naive and think that these people are too stupid to know the difference between capitalism and corporatism but I know they actually know better, which makes what they are doing and saying even worse.

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  4. Fuck off Eric Hobsbawm.

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  5. This "capitalism making human beings obsolete" meme must have been rolling around the left wing drain for a while. I remember hearing the same back in college in the late seventies. At the time the big threat was the coming microprocessor revolution. Tiny silicon wafers could perform functions so much faster than mere mortals that it was 'game over' for the human race. Computers would take all the jobs and society was woefully unprepared for a life of leisure (not me, by the way, I have always been fully prepared for a life of leisure.)

    My industrial relations prof lectured the class once on this and asked all the students to raise their hands if they thought technology would take their future jobs away. Being an unreconstructed Friedmanite at the time I was the only one with my hand unraised. For this breach of class conformity, the dweeb of a prof made one of those 'all knowing' smirks that left wingers get taught, which he shared with a few class favorites.

    Back then I had read Yale Brozen's excellent essay on Automation (see here (PDF)) and had been thus innoculated against the automation-phobia. In revisiting this incident I am surprised just how robust and incisive Brozen's take was and how well it has stacked up with subsequent decades.

    The prof went on to say that once the era of mass technology unemployment came to pass, it wouldn't be a blissful era of mass leisure he pontificated. (And lets face it, if anyone knows what a life of mass leisure is like it is surely an academic.) The capitalists no longer needing a mass would want get rid of them. He warned us to be on the look out for the Catholic church changing it's line on 'the pill' as this would be the red flag that elite managed depopulation was on the agenda.

    Ah, youthful memories!

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  6. Pol Pot couldn't have said it better!

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  7. Ludwig von Mises so brilliantly said that, government intervention will lead ultimately to a full-fledged socialism. I think we are going to get it all over the world pretty soon. Another grinding century for humanity, and may be after that people will realize that the only alternative is Freedom. I truly agree with Prof. Hoppe when he said, in his recent seminar in Australia, I am not very hopeful for the mankind!

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  8. Capitalism is making workers obsolete? What a fool. Capitalism is the only reason anyone has a job, be it directly in the market, or indirectly through non-profits or government employment.

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  9. In 1994, he was asked, if Marx's golden age of communist had come to pass, if the deaths of 20-30 million people was worth it. (son of a bitch didn't even hesitate to answer)

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  10. They sucked all the wealth out of the baby boomer Gen with their Ponzi money system. The new feudal lords now don't want any competition so for everyone else the Marxist paradise will be OK.Charlatans!

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  11. They are talking code... Every time they use the word "capitalism," just put the word "State" in front of it, and it makes perfect sense.

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  12. Despite his faith in his political view which clearly fell apart only 23 years ago I still have to admire his clarity and conviction at the age of 94. If I have to live that long I hope I can retain that sort of clarity. I hope libertarians will prevail so strongly in the next 100 years.....

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  13. "Pathological degeneration"... this describes that particular Marxist pretty well.

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