some people will say that capitalism is not the cause of our techno-progressive stagnation

they are liars and typically they’re capitalists

let’s consider the question of how we will pay for all the utopian tech deployment i described

if the state were building it all, we just need to tax the rich more, especially corporations

but capitalism as a system prevents this by motivating its defenders against taxation

we could alternatively deploy modern monetary theory to justify printing enough money to fund a public works program like the original New Deal

but capitals economic ideology insists we can’t because of inflation, despite there being strong evidence to the contrary

and moreover the works program would guarantee jobs to anyone that wanted one, meaning anyone can quit their capitalist job and that threatens corporate control over wealth

we could organize these systems outside of the monetary system entirely, but capitalists oppose this because widespread non-private economics would reveal capitalism to be the unnecessary thing that it is

we could do it all ourselves but few of us have the resources to actually build things at scale and those who do are capitalists like elon musk who got rich by exploitation

we could try to build the large scale projects without relying on the monetary system but you have to figure out how to feed and clothe people outside that system before they’ll be able to contribute to these big projects without payment

the root cause of this problem is quite simply that we have all be completely disconnected from how our needs get satisfied. we have no control over it, no power to impact it, and so were forced into baroque economic magic, which can be exploited, currently by capitalism

THE first step, the most important step, towards the utopian future is to put peoples lives back into their own hands, to use all of modern technology to re-empower ourselves to make the things we need for living

this is why i think that hacker maker shit is so important — more people with the skills to solve their problems, with the modern tools to do so for themselves without having to beg some corporate or governmental powers for permission, and with the instinct to do and build

a society full of people who not only *can* do these things, but who’s first instinct is to just go and do them, is how we get the cool sci-fi utopian future

some folx have asked me before, “ok well what’s the plan? what’s the agenda? tell me what to build!”

i cannot do that, only you know what you need

but humans have some common needs, shit we learned as kids

food, water, shelter, clothing

these days we add to these needs some additional ones:

sanitation, healthcare, education

sometimes we go further:

communication, computers, internet

these are ALL things we can work on together, and our efforts can be shared and benefit everyone

elon musk is building for profit internet satellite constellations, why aren’t we building DIY alternate free internet access?

startups are trying to build private for profit vertical farms, why aren’t we exploring ways to make simple, robust indoor hydroponics?

take your pick, find a problem that you, and everyone else, has and work on it and share your knowledge with others