It's quite obvious that I might be forced to from here on totally disregard any argument based on the presumtion that there is a worldwide conspiracy or anything that rules the world on its own terms. If there is such an elite, then point at it or at the signs unambiguously proving that there are. Otherwise it's not worth discussing.
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Originally Posted by zevokes
when the world goes corporate, 'right minds' cease to exist and profit margins tend to cloud better judgement. the only reason we burn things to create energy is that energy companies - who happen to own the media - can sell it to us until it runs out. and when it runs out, they can capitalize BIG TIME on the riotous outcome. everybody agrees that war makes good wallet padding.
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When (parts of) the world did (begin to) go corporate, the people therein could for the first time acquire things previously unreachable by exchange of things they could produce themselves, i.e. create
more value. I used the term 'right mind' as equal to rational behaviour, nothing more, nothing less. And may I remind you that profit itself is thoroughly dependent on whatever it is you call "better judgement". May I also remind you that war
destroys capital. Regarding the conspiratorial notion of the media ownership I refer to what I wrote at the beginning.
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Originally Posted by zevokes
and that aside, the extracting and moving and selling of oil is a fundamental player in the state of the world economy. it's interesting that they both just happen to be in such a state of near-collapse simultaneously. eh?
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Oil is an important commodity only because it's one of the most, if not
the most, efficient energy sources and a foundational ingredient in plastic, only to mention two common usages of it. Which 'both' is it that you're claiming to be in a state of near-collapse, by the way?
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Originally Posted by zevokes
the hard drive you buy today probably existed long before you could get your hands on it. probably even before you could get your hands on the one you bought ten years ago.
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It probably existed
some time ago but I would never in my life have been able to buy it. Now I am. Guess why?
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Originally Posted by zevokes
in this regard, competition again serves to hinder progression in the sense that companies will withhold their product lines in order to ensure the continued existence and prosperity of the company, while maintaining a standard of what is called PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE. planned obsolescence means that when you buy a product, it is guaranteed to break or fail, ensuring you go buy another one or put money into repairing it. the monetary system could not survive without producing goods which will not stand the test of time.
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"Planned obsolence"...
The most obvious example of "planned obsolence", albeit a product of politics rather than business strategy, is what occured in places like the Sovjet Union and the eastern Europe. Here you have the results of "planned obsolence":
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Originally Posted by zevokes
let me say that again:
IN A MONETARY SYSTEM, THE WORLD WOULD COLLAPSE IF PRODUCTS WERE MADE WELL.
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It doesn't become more true just because you write in capitals. Are you even remotely familiar with basic economic theory?
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Originally Posted by zevokes
i don't know what you think are rewards if they don't include free time, a perspective which includes the future, knowing people everywhere are eating and have roofs over their heads and solid floors under their feet and clean water, knowing people are being put to use in a way that is not lining the pockets of the elite, knowing the world in its entirety is not the sum of a few men's agenda, and not ever having to pay a cent for anything ever again, because the system is designed and redesigned with the happiness of us in mind.
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How about value? Means to exchange value? Incitement to produce value? Satisfaction enough to reach for higher values? Don't you realize that all the things you're mentioning here are all dependent on wealth which is a result of the increase of production of value? (And I do mean value in its widest definition). More people today than ever before are able to satisfy their basic needs (food, water, shelter) and therefore they don't have to spend their entire days and lives only to stay alive but instead can indulge in more profound activities. And all this only due to one thing, even if it's perpetually opposed, namely freedom. Freedom to live, own and trade, i.e. the absence of political hinders. I totally agree that the world is still quite a filthy place to live in as a whole, but that's not because we don't yet have an automagical technocratic system that's controlled... oh wait, I just realized you didn't answer my question.
Now, Who would develop, produce and maintain all these wonderful machines that would serve the humanity?