This was so interesting to read the perspective of someone who's lived in both communism and capitalism. I remember how much hope and enthusiasm there was on this side of the world in the late 80's with communism coming to an end. It was a great time to be young, I was just graduating high school. Looking back now I realize how little of it I really understood.
I used to watch the YouTube channel Bald and Bankrupt (before he was banned from Russia) and the host would travel to remote parts of Russia and former Soviet countries and talk with people. The older people, almost always, said life was better under communism. I wasn't sure if it was just older people seeing the past as being better than it really was.
Capitalism's main flaw is it relies on perpetual growth to remain healthy but the rampant overconsumption of everything can't go on forever without destroying everything it promises to enrich. It reminds me of that symbol where the snake eats it's own tail, the ouroboros.
I've been following the evolution of artificial intelligence for the past few years and there's a huge change coming to the world economy. We'll be feeling the full impact between 2026-2030. Universal Basic Income is going to be the only answer for the massive job loss that's coming as A.I. and robotics take over nearly every job imaginable. The general consensus I've heard (from people I trust) are saying the average annual UBI income will be around $150-200K per person. I don't even know what that will look like here in America. Essentially everyone will be retired. People could work on their health/self-growth pursue hobbies but will they really?
Real Capitalism has never been tried. What passes as Capitalism today is a perversion of Corporatism, just as Mussolini envisioned it.
A trap. Becoming dependent on inhuman and inhumane corporations will be a mistake every single human being that undertakes it will regret - if they live long enough to regret their enslavement to inhuman corporations.
We are born free, and we will die. It's best to die free. Most people will die slaves. Die free.
Yeah, I don't disagree. I just don't know how we stop the A.I. train at this point. The only way, really, is to opt out of society. I have a hard time trusting any government to work for the common good of their citizens. At this point corporations and government are interchangeable.
I was working all weekend, removing a rubble heap that had been overgrown by sod I couldn't mow, so I peeled back the sod and removed the rubble, then laid the sod back on the now flat lawn. I suppose an AI bot could eventually manage that task, but I've never heard of any digging machine that protected the sod like that.
I planted some roses in a lava rock bed. I had to scrape away the lava rocks, slit the weed barrier cloth, and dig holes the size of the root balls of the roses. I also had to space the roses evenly. After I'd planted the roses, I folded the slitted cloth back in place, and scraped the lava rocks back over it. It looks like the rose bushes have always been there. Then I built a deer proof fence out of scrap fencing neighbors had laying around, scrap lumber, making a hinge by leaving a bit of the wire fencing sticking out past the last post which I screwed to a piece of plywood. I put a cabinet handle on the back side of the plywood and stretched a bungie cord from the handle to the wire fence so the cord pulls the door shut. Deer won't figger that out, I think.
AI can't do any of that. None of what I do is threatened by AI taking over. I suppose a humanoid robot ran by AI could learn to use a shovel, vise grips, and a hammer, but I've never seen one do any of that. The government and other corporations were never consulted in any of that work.
As far as I can tell, I can just ignore all of the terrible things you mention above and I'll never notice their lack of participation in my life.
We have some nostalgia here as well, mostly the elderly saying things were better in communism. For one thing, people tend to consider life was better when they were young. Obviously. One of the advantages of that era was certainty. You could be certain you'd get a job once you graduated, you could expect you'd be assigned a place to live and, since there was little to spend money on, you'd make it till the next paycheck. In a sense, communism accomplished its mission of making people equal. Equally poor.
That's the impression I got from the Bald and Bankrupt episodes. It was people looking back to the past with the rose-colored glasses.
Speaking of freedom, you mentioned that channel was banned... The communists banned Western media... or tried to, at least. After the war in Ukraine started, I follow Russian news on Telegram. If anything, it's good to see their point of view. I am aware it's also propaganda, but I find it more imaginative :))
The channel is still active but he's no longer able to travel in Russia. He's banned from the country for life. I bet it is interesting to hear the other side of the story. I've done that consistently with US domestic news since 2016, I listen to both sides of the extreme. You can usually be pretty sure the truth can be found somewhere in the middle. : )