MONDAY MAP

TRUMP AND TWITTER, SOCIALISM AND THE 21ST CENTURY, AND CHESTERTON'S FENCE

Hello, you are welcome to the last Monday Map of the year. I hope you were able to find your way around this philosophical cosmos. Remember that I am your guide on this curiosity journey and you are in the right place.

By the way, how was your Christmas celebration?

For Monday Map today, let's look at Trump and Twitter in Capitalism, and Socialism in the 21st century.

Shall we?

Trump and Twitter: About this, I realized something. Everyone has an opinion on what should be done. Yet we act as if the power to do something about it is not in our hands but in the hands of a larger organism. Take Twitter for example. When Twitter kicked Donald Trump permanently off its platform, everyone became wary of ‘big tech.’ People knew just the right thing to do to stop big tech. They wanted government limitations. But here is a fact. We can all do something about big tech to make big tech small again. We can simply move on to smaller techs and build them up to big tech again. Or take Amazon. Everyone (especially the socialist bros) complains that Amazon  and its founder is incredibly rich. So, let’s cut all that power. How? We get the government to do it for us. Wait. How about we return to using local physical bookstores and other vendors?

We hate the truth. The truth that big tech and Amazon are what they are because of us. We made them what they are. It is a trade. They give us ease and comfort. We give them more money and more power. Capitalism.

It is easier to stay in your house and get a book delivered to your doorstep. It is also more comfortable to reach out to your friends on Twitter and other big tech than to use a wonky social media app that has good potential. All your friends are already on Big tech. Why move? It is easier to remain where your friends are, than to move on and start from scratch. It is disingenuous to conceive that these service providers help you optimize your ease and comfort all to no advantage to themselves. And this is why capitalism is the best economic system compared to others. You can move your value to another platform. Their bigness depends on you.

Using Lewis Mumford’s concept of the bribe, technocracy and its elder brother authoritarianism is impossible without the people’s consent.

The idea is simple. You get ease and comfort. Big tech gets bigger techness. Hence the bribe. Make your choice.

Socialism and the 21st Century means of production: About socialism and the 21st century means of production. Socialism (not the same as communism as many people confuse but it is a natural step towards it) is an economic model that puts the public in charge of the means of production. This implies that the whole community (working class) make the decisions and perform the processes involved in production of goods and services. It is a direct contrast to capitalism that allows for the private ownership of the means of production.

Socialism is an acceptable model for basic, unsophisticated societies. It works because the things they produce are the basic needs for survival compared to the 21st century. They only have to meet their needs of food, clothing, and shelter. To cut to the chase, there was no need to mass-produce many items that are common today. Like your mobile phones, computers, Fendi jackets, Balenciaga shoes, Disneyland, and your awesome vacation spots. These things are common now, but were luxury then.

As times changed, and technological advancements caused a boom in the economy, socialism could not hold up. With the recent digitalization, who would commit their projects to the working class? Considering that digitalization rewards individual uniqueness, too many cooks spoil the broth and socialism is a moot point. Imagine outsourcing your writing task or web development task to the working class.

What I am saying in essence is that the ‘means of production’ changed. What we have now is designed for individual input. Not the collective working class. Maybe socialism has always been awful. But it is even more awful now. The amount of luxury we enjoy now is credited to capitalism. It allows people to venture out to their areas of interest in the hopes that they can make money off it. Socialism is too insulated for that. It is bad and outdated. Leave it alone.

Chesterton’s fence and Other Stories: In what should be my last podcast of the year, I spoke on Chesterton’s fence and Unattractive figures. They are viable mental tools for figuring out how things work. You can listen to it to build your mental arsenal for abstract decision-making. I hope you had a good year with Busyminds. See you around.

Yours,

Emmanuel.