01-25-2018, 04:47 PM
(01-25-2018, 04:05 PM)David Horn Wrote:(01-25-2018, 01:22 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: Post-modern and information age are roughly the same, I think; the post-modern era dates from at least as far back as the 1960s, which is when the microchip came into being too. Post-modern philosophy and architecture appeared in the 60s and 70s. The first big computer came into being earlier, but some also date post-modern earlier; perhaps to the time of the nuclear arms race, and perhaps to just before the turn of the 20th century, at least with regard to some allegedly post-modern prophets like Nietzsche.
Post-modernity has less to do with science and technology than it does with philosophy. The reason I added 'whatever that means' to my comment has to do with the lack of clarity about the topic. A lot of it has to do with 'truth' and 'fact', which are different as you should know. Unfortunately, many have decided that 'truth' exists outside the world of 'fact', so one opinion is just as valuable as any other. Dangerous!
We can all have our opinions, but we need to deal with factual reality for what it is. Factual reality can get in the way of anything that one wants. "Bridge out" does not mean that you can reasonably make a crossing at that point just because you want to.
Quote:Eric the Green Wrote:The reckoning must come, I agree, about the 1% elite, or else we are descending into a new feudalism.
Yes, it must come, but not necessarily now. Let's admit it: we're tired. The rate of societal change is ridiculous, and it's worn us down. That, in part, is why I wonder whether this 4T will be dud: existent but weak and ineffectual.
Historical change will not set its pace based upon the desire of any people. We can reasonably expect institutional changes contrary to our desire or our readiness for them, let alone their manner of happening.
Eric the Green Wrote:I would be happy if Reaganomics is replaced by a general realization that taxing the rich enough to boost average Americans and to keep the rich from owning and running everything is a necessary and rational policy that should be permanent, as it was for almost 50 years, and that libertarian-economic nostrums should be permanently debunked. If we realize this, and implement this fair tax policy, then a deadly revolution might not be needed.
I'll stick my neck out: I see the capitalist system either dying or morphing into something totally different in less than 50 years. The pace of change will make us all supernumerary in our own economy. We have to eat, cloth and house ourselves, and live real lives. If not through paid work, then how?[/quote]
Capitalism remains a system of manipulation -- creating desires that can be achieved in relatively few ways, all of those requiring obedience to the capitalists. Needs such as food, clothing, shelter, and heating or cooling will be there whether we like it or not. We will need transportation to get to work, education to prepare us for jobs other than raw labor, and medical care to keep us from dying before our careers are through. The Master Class wants to inflict entrepreneurial responsibility upon the masses in return for offering nothing but peon rewards.... that cannot work long. If we cannot have full employment we will need some sort of welfare system, perhaps a guaranteed income (which robot-based production will make necessary) We will probably need to tax robot-based productivity heavily to ensure that people who lose productive jobs get compensation.
We will need more education to prepare people for a world with less work. The 40-hour workweek of the 1930s transformed unemployment into predictable leisure. Shorter hours of work may be a necessity.
But think of what people could do in their added leisure time. Creative activities. Visiting people in need, such as people incarcerated in nursing homes. Travel for leisure purposes. Reading great literature, viewing great cinema and video, and listening to great music. Maybe we will have plenty of 'perpetual students' -- but so what?
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.