this post was submitted on 23 May 2026
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[–] wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.works 0 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

I'm increasingly concerned that it seems like you are dismissing my concerns about risk of harm by just saying "it's already that way under capitalism, so why should it need to be better?" It also seems like you are claiming that I hold the burden of proof for saying that the conclusions of game theory and simple economics hold, rather than that a totally untested, never-successfully-implemented system must prove its worth before completely discarding every single model which describes the system of humanity as we know it. Doesn't that sound, very literally, reactionary? As in, a reaction on reflex? That we should just throw ourselves to the wind in the hope that we end up somewhere better than capitalism?

By saying that no true democracy that "includes economic matters" has ever existed, you make my point clear: you are saying "this has never been done before, therefore it must work because it is different"

The reason I do not provide data on human nature is because the burden of proof lies with those attempting to disprove the null hypothesis. The null hypothesis here is the current understanding under the system known to the querent: I.e. very basic economics and game theory. The untested system is the one which must prove itself. I would be very genuinely interested to see your data on "homo economicus is a myth, one that is disproven daily", preferably starting with a rigorous definition of what, precisely, are the implicit assumptions of "Homo Economicus" which are to be disproved. The only presuppositions I have made, as far as I can tell, are that humans are not perfectly rational actors (hence the "easily manipulated" part), but that they are still capable of rational choices given incomplete information. Basic game theory can describe why people would make selfish decisions. All you need are the right perceived cost and benefit weightings to show that a rational actor would and should make betrayer moves. Just saying "altruism exists", or that people who choose to become teachers have intrinsic motivation is insufficient to prove what appears, at least to me, to be a patently naïve view of the innate goodness of people. If you want my "data" on "a fair portion of people suck, and it is often rational for people to betray others", I recommend the lovely little simulation "the evolution of trust". That's nothing but simple game theory.

As far as "having it both ways" on coercion, I believe that any society that I would want to be a part of should incentivise people to make cooperator moves, and disincentivise betrayer moves, rather than relying on intrinsic motivation in a pie-in-the-sky, all-in bet that humans are intrinsically good enough to cooperate at scale without people gaming the system. All you need to see that intrinsic motivation is insufficient for most, is to look in a classroom. I can provide studies on intrinsic motivation in the classroom (which is about as far as you can get from capitalism in the modern age), if that would be helpful.

Anyway, Coercion is not something in which I'm interested. If a system cannot act without being based primarily on coercion (as you seem to be calling it or, as I would say it "without the clear inevitability of falling to a totalitarian state"), then that's not sufficiently better than the status quo for me to justify the effort of instantiating such a system

You treat the amount of teachers at equilibrium as the goal, but if you want an educated populace, your primary focus needs to be in incentivising those who are good at the job and those who have enough intrinsic motivation to want the job, to stay in the job. If you're constantly shuffling out the experienced teachers for new blood, then not only have you effectively just recreated the current Teacher-Crushing Machine™ (brought to you by the makers of the Orphan-Crushing Machine™ and the Torment NeXus™), but you've also just put the education of your entire population into the hands of inexperienced and mentally-taxed people desperate to get out. That's simply an untenable situation, and it's the same for every sector which carries risk. You want to minimise the risks, then actively incentivise those who are suited to the job and who are willing to take the risks to actually keep doing so. Is the goal of this whole endeavour not maximising utility? How is creating huge populations of jaded ex-firefighters supposed to serve the public good, let alone help to convince the populace that the system works better than the capitalist way? If the end goal just looks like a slightly different torment nexus, why should I want to upgrade to Torment Nexus 2 (now made with 30% recycled material!), for the low-low price of a violent revolution or three?

[–] mattyroses@lemmy.today 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah, dude, thanks for the wall of text deciding what my position is (erroneously) for me.

You asked a question, I answered it. You want to make up a straw man to yell at, you can do it without me.

[–] wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (1 children)

I would point out that what has happened was that I asked about twenty questions, you half-answered one and then agreed when I extracted some meaning from it, then changed my original post to reflect it. You derided the other three quarters of my questions, repeatedly ignoring them, then mischaracterised my statements as "trying to have it both ways". Or "presupposing" things, without any statements supporting this. Talk about strawman. Rather than actually addressing the questions I specifically requested to focus on, you decided it was more important to just dismiss any questions which weren't already solvable under capitalism as unworthy, then got butthurt when I characterised that flippance as belying that your position must simply have no answer for the questions you have been so tirelessly ignoring. If you wish to characterise it as a strawman, feel free. I think I have my answers. Thanks for at least confirming a solution to the first problem. I'll see if anyone has any serious responses to inflationary concerns, risk as a necessary consideration, or the accountability question, rather than just claiming that they don't have to answer them.

[–] mattyroses@lemmy.today 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Buddy, I'm not deriding anything.

I gave you answers, and you're making wild suppositions about how human nature supposedly is - and then demanding I answer your own, unsupported, conclusions as somehow axiomatic.

I've pointed out multiple times, gently, that this isn't the case, using real world and your own examples. Your response has been to then continue with your own assumptions. Yes, you have your answers - you decided you did from the beginning, and it's obvious you're not actually asking questions, you're convinced your own argument (which again, doesn't bear relation to reality) is wonderful and want that to be taken as gospel.

Nobody is butthurt here, it's simply pointless to continue to repeat things to you at this point.

So we'll go through this one last time, then you can continue on your little game by yourself. I really do have better things to do. Because I've worked on these systems, I gave you time already, which appears to have been a mistake.

any serious responses to inflationary concerns

Inflation isn't a concern in time value. As technology and capital increase productive capacity, the actual effect is deflationary - however, since labor vouchers don't allow hoarding, this is also not a real concern.

risk as a necessary consideration

Necessary for what? You seem to be supposing that there are risky professions which nobody will do except for money, and also cannot be done without.

OK, so name one?

Here is a list of the top 10 most dangerous jobs in America - https://www.forbes.com/advisor/legal/workers-comp/most-dangerous-jobs-america/

Now notice something - only one, pilot, has a salary that is even 6 figures.

Do you see the problem with your argument? You're claiming nobody will do jobs, that they are currently doing, without incentive that they currently don't get.

or the accountability question

Again, you have claimed there would be, in your own words, widespread "oligarchic" fraud. When asked how that would be possible without a small number of owners who would profit from said fraud, you don't bother to answer. Because it shows the question is a meaningless one. I might as well ask how you intend to deal with the unicorn crisis under capitalism.

[–] wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.works 1 points 43 minutes ago* (last edited 42 minutes ago)

The actual effect being deflationary, and the statement on hoarding are exactly the sorts of insights I was looking for. Thank you! Can you explain how they are actually deflationary? And what does hoarding have to do with it?

As far as the risky jobs, I am not, and have never been, saying that no one will choose a risky job. I am saying that it shouldn't be a consequence of any good system to capitalise on the altruism of firefighters or the stupidity of people who choose a dangerous job. If people want to take on risks, great! If the risks are inherent to necessary labour, they should be compensated according to the relative expected loss of future productivity. Just because they aren't under the capitalist system doesn't mean that they shouldn't be. I must presume that the goal of this system would be to increase overall utility, that is to say, to increase —nay, maximise— total happiness and welfare. Consider a person who is choosing a job. We need people to perform all of these jobs, but some of them, like farming or construction, are far more risky. There may be some adrenaline junkies out there, as you have said, but the presumption of a sufficient number of adrenaline junkies to fill every construction and farming job is not a basis for a system of governance. You say "replace them with robots", but that isn't actually an answer. That's just saying that we should have the goal of making all jobs which carry a risk to life and limb redundant. Anywhere it is economically feasible to replace workers with robots, it has already been done (or is being done now) under capitalism's ever-increasing drive toward wealth centralisation. So, back to the person choosing a job. They are faced with a choice: all labor has the same value, so where do they want to work? Well, a rational actor will do a cost-benefit analysis, weighing risk and reward with each option. They may have a dream job, but that will only get them through the door. It doesn't keep them there. If they get seriously injured, they may never work again. Risk of death reduces life expectancy, albeit marginally. Why should the rational actor choose a profession —or choose to stay in a profession— which carries with it known risks to physical or mental health, when they can choose to do something with virtually no risk instead? If a job carries with it risks of death or injury to physical or mental health, then those jobs should be incentivised to account for the reduced expected career length and risk, in order to ensure that those positions are filled. I just don't understand how that's controversial. Equality is not equity. Someone working as a firefighter should be compensated for the fact that, at any time, they could die for the public good. That loss of future expected productivity should be compensated by spreading the expected loss of productivity (risk multiplied by cost) over the course of their labour.

When you do not properly incentivise people, they leave for greener pastures or, worse, stay and continue through a cycle of depression. It is bad for civilisation to have fields in which experience increases efficiency (nearly every field) being filled with new people to replace the people who realised that entering the field was a bad decision. That's not something you should plan for, but in a previous comment you said that there would be plenty of people waiting to take over when the experienced teachers left. That is not a good thing. We lose teachers because they realize that you are correct, there is no rational way to justify working as a teacher unless you're some green-beard altruist who doesn't believe in money. It just isn't worth the mental stress to work, if the payment is what you need out of it. No good system should rely on the intrinsic motivation of people to magically decide to do the right thing and throw themselves onto the pyre. How does the Marxist system suggest that we should handle labour which, by its nature, is more dangerous, more taxing, or has a lower expected career length, while also being essential to social progress? Any and all of those careers you listed should have increased compensation based on the serious risk of death.

I will look elsewhere for the answer to the problem of accountability, because you do appear steadfast that the question of who determines and assigns the values of goods and services is meaningless. I cannot fathom that apparent position, less reconcile it with your other statements, but very well.