this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2023
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270
What would you do if Capitalism didn't curb your potential and force you to sell most of your time? (lemy.lol)
submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
326 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I often daydream about how society would be if we were not forced by society to pigeon hole ourselves into a specialized career for maximizing the profits of capitalists, and sell most of our time for it.

The idea of creating an entire identity for you around your "career" and only specializing in one thing would be ridiculous in another universe. Humans have so much natural potential for breadth, but that is just not compatible with capitalism.

This is evident with how most people develop "hobbies" outside of work, like wood working, gardening, electronics, music, etc. This idea of separating "hobbies" and the thing we do most of our lives (work) is ridiculous.

Here's how my world could be different if I owned my time and dedicated it to the benefit of my own and my community instead of capitalists:

  • more reading, learning and excusing knowledge with others.
  • learn more handy work, like plumbing and wood working. I love customizing my own home!
  • more gardening
  • participate in the transportation system (picking up shifts to drive a bus for example)
  • become a tour guide for my city
  • cook and bake for my neighbors
  • academic research
  • open source software (and non-software) contributions
  • pick up shifts at a café and make coffee, tea and smoothies for people
  • pick up shifts to clean up public spaces, such as parks or my own neighborhood
  • participate in more than one "professions". I studied one type of engineering but work in a completely different engineering. This already proves I can do both, so why not do both and others?

Humans do not like the same thing over and over every day. It's unnatural. But somehow we revolve our whole livelihood around if.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago (14 children)

It's called "describing the reality of capitalist economy" not "being a communist"

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (13 children)

The reality of capitalist economies has turned out to be: Living in the freest and richest nations the world has ever seen. If you’re too hot you can set the thermostat to cool down and if you’re too cold you can just turn the heat up.

You have ample choices for food, leisure and activity. More than anyone else has ever had in all of human history.

You only need to work a fraction of an hour for a meal, instead of all day long (and often working for days on end and not ever bringing home anything to eat)

You’re the most comfortable any human has ever been. Surviving is so easy for you, you feel the need to complain that ITS NOT EASY ENOUGH.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (2 children)

If you’re too hot you can set the thermostat to cool down and if you’re too cold you can just turn the heat up.

I sure am thankful for HVAC technology, and the development of science and human technology in general that has been happening since way before capitalism.

You have ample choices for food

I love the agricultural revolution from hundreds of thousands of years ago! And tractors.

You only need to work a fraction of an hour for a meal, instead of all day long

Okay now, pre-industrial societies did not work an entire day for a single meal lmao. That's something you'd see in capitalism or slavery. The vast majority of human history did not involve that much work.

You’re the most comfortable any human has ever been.

Thanks for technological advancements and not-capitalism!

. Surviving is so easy for you, you feel the need to complain that ITS NOT EASY ENOUGH.

What a boomer statement lmao. Isn't it ironic that you complain about other people critiquing society, and lash out in caps lock? What if I told you that people have critiqued society since antiquity? I highly recommend you pick up a book. You'll learn something or two!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Just a heads up you are both discussing in bad faith and neither of you will make any strides with the other.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago

You can summarize my argument in two:

  • no, these things are not attributed to capitalism. They were not a direct cause of capitalism. They occurred during capitalism (and some did before).
  • complaining about people complaining about society is not even an argument worth responding to, let alone arguing it's some recent phenomenon when you can easily verify it has happened for as long as we've had writing.
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