And at this point if the US weren't such a capitalist worshipping dystopia and we were to start trying to transition into socialism/communism we could probably succeed or at the very least do it better than the soviets.

It's not like we have another America to try and destroy us at every turn. China wants communism and Russia doesn't seem to care.

We could honestly boost our slowly failing empire by forcing private industry to actually pay workers and treat them like human beings.

You think if America adopted more socialist policies, then China would suddenly become our friend? And we'd no longer be fighting proxy wars with Russia?

I still don't know what you mean by this. When was the US running the kind of state capitalist economy China has? The closest example I can think of is during ww2 for the war effort

We didn't get richer than britain through economic policy. We inherited a global empire after winning the war and all the other major European powers except the soviets lost theirs.

Not exactly, but I'm saying the USSR probably industrialized as quickly as it would be possible to do so. If they opened themselves up to the global economy the way China did there would be a number of issues with that.

1) it goes directly against the state ideology which at the time was attempting to produce a system that rivaled western capitalism, not imitated it.
2) industrialization was already happening and if they went the normal capitalist route it would've been a much more gradual process.

Then you get to the part about being less authoritarian... As in having actual elections and ****? The bolsheviks would've been voted right out of power. So the combination of embracing the market while being less authoritarian basically leads to just another western capitalist country. Which again.... You really do confident that after the "stage of capitalism" happens there will be another window for revolution? They thought this about western europe in 1848 and here we are still waiting.....

No. Just that neither would try to topple us just for being communist. We obviously have to do more to repair our relationship with both regardless.

I disagree. Simply because state controlled capitalism has been proven to build up industry at extremely high rates and it's obviously a much better alternative to what they did even if it took longer. TBF it's hard to know if you could build industry in a socialist country because America will do everything in it's power to topple socialist societies.

I don't know how I can be any more clear by what I meant with less authoritarian. Like not banning art and oppressing people's rights to free speech.

The main difference would be they'd be doing capitalism with the goal of communism in mind. Like China who has already started to transition.

Isn't social democracy huge in western Europe anyways?

Omfg will you all shut the **** up

^^^

This trend of diverting any thread into yet another boring discussion on politics :o:

But isn't communism the most missed poster of all?

Yeah cause there's so much more interesting **** going on...

Let's stick to the thread topic of the ever growing list of people who came to their senses and abandoned this wasteland

When was the last time anyone heard from Trotsky69? Does anyone talk to him on Facebook?

DwnWthVwls ... :o:

Agree with Cuthbert.

If you guys insist on derailing every thread then why even have a forum. We could just use IRC / discord.

I for one think it was a worthwhile discussion.

We solved free will, neurogenesis, and the Soviet famines in short order. That's the MB brain trust at work. :pimp:

If we don't have free will then there's no such thing as a derailed thread. Every thread is on the predetermined rail that the universe destined it to be on. Discuss for another 4 pages....

oh hell no you're not turning this into a trolley problem

Are you using your free will to stop me or were you predetermined to do so?

I'm using my battleaxe to tell you to stfu

Because two people who barely post are complaining about something that doesn't hurt them in any way?

Quality/quantity

Quntity has a quality all it's own.

no, because it's legitimately annoying

:clap:

I was avoiding this thread as I have no ****ing interest in the topic you all turned it to. What's wrong with taking your boring discussion to where it belongs, the current affairs sub forum? Knock yourselves out. Possibly literally.

Yep, I'm pretty sure someone actually made a free will thread where you people can circle jerk in peace
Ironically, I think said someone was jwb

More on topic, it's too bad OH wasn't here. He would've enjoyed the convo.

true
http://assets.stickpng.com/images/5e...0004aa684b.png

That's why I did it, in memory of OH. So it's on topic.

Then **** off for a few days and leave us to our tedium. If the forum wasn't already so dead it wouldn't bother you in the first place.

I just did it to be a dick. Which is always on topic afaic

I say he's dead.

coming back to 100 pages of tedium is even more annoying actually

Maybe there's a glitch in the OH system. Maybe banning him again and unbanning him will work.

Worth a try.

I don't see how that affects me.

no I made a thread on evolution since that topic was also popping up in other threads.. is just sorta how conversations go...

But debaser asked the one big question that MB can't answer... Why even have a forum?

Also lol @ "I've been avoiding this thread"...

Sorry for your trauma pal

For forums, the wake and the funeral has long been over. But we've decided to pitch a tent and have some beers by the grave to pass the time.

In all reality, I assume whoever owns this site still makes money off it, right? Otherwise, why continue paying the hosting fees?

Naturally, with how few members (especially active ones) we have, on-topic conversations will naturally take interesting diversions that are worth exploring (at least to some of us). Exactly who are we protecting from the sacrilege of a few off topic pages in a 700+page thread on a ghost-town of a forum?

Could one of us suggest that we (participants of off-topic conversation) move the conversation to a more appropriate thread for the subject matter? Sure we could. Will others actually follow suit and continue conversation in the other thread? Unlikely. Even if they did, what if that conversation then again veers off the topic at hand? Move the conversation again to a different thread? In short, this is why forums in general are dead.

Forums are dead because of social media but whiny rule scolds aren't helping.

I wasnt saying they were dead because of rule scolds per se, rather that social media and other platforms facilitates an easier mode of discussion than forums do. Zoomers today are doubtful to have the attention span to navigate an old web forum.

I was just being an ******* not starting a revolution.

But everyone should shut up in general, including myself.

If I was an ******* my hair would be anal beads.

This is literally me but I want more elves and succubi.