Topic: We need new ideologies (Read 390 times)

Hi All...

Here are my views on what is Happening to our World & Lives to our Political & Financial System(s)

Introduction

As recent history from the Global Financial Crisis of 2008/09 including the ongoing events of the Pandemic of 2019 has taught me to never take anything for granted, We live our lives on a knife edge in what seems like a Gravity defying balancing act, All whilst juggling with one hand tied firmly behind our backs.

It has shown me that the world in which I imagine is no longer as robust as I once thought. Furthermore, The probability that things can and will change on a dime, if not now, then in the very near future. If your one of the lucky one's who has not already been affected get prepared.

What We Need?
We need a new type of Politics, A New type of Language to be able to properly discuss the issues of the day and that of the future. We do not have a political party in my country who I feel speaks my language, literally! We basically have Two variants of the same thing. The policies of each are variants of the other, nothing is radical, which is what I believe is required in politics urgently.

We Need a Proper version of Capitalism, Not the current version we have today. Neo-libertarian, mixed Renter Capitalism Hybrid cocktail we call Capitalism now. Actual Free Markets No State handouts to the Uber Wealthy or based on which Oxbridge university you went to.  

What I See/Feel & Experience

Currently, I see that there is a distinct line between the Generations. Almost purposefully divided.

Generally, speaking in approximation we see the Boomer generations as being one cohort and then we have Generation Z and Millennials as being in another cohort, A portion of which have embraced a world in which they have adopted an increasingly more Decentralised & Digital world.

We then have a portion of the cohort still stuck in a system where they believe its a good idea to have a close to zero yielding savers account and were taught to believe that saving pays (which would have been correct 15-20yrs ago when there was actual decent interest rates).

Next, we have the remainder of the groups who still TRUST the current legacy Analogue Governance system

This group continues to hold on to the belief that... "Things will get better under our watch", BUT "You must continue to vote for us and we promise in return for your vote We will provide: Job security, provide you with material wealth and ensure you continue to have a roof over your head."  <== This should be standard by Default not conditional.

**Only one of the above, of which, is the current direction of travel. A system that is Flexible and is not Monolithic & Decentralised by nature.**

At All Costs

From my limited observations of our Governance structure/Systems of democracy and just as importantly the Language of Politics today is quite simply outdated and needs a Radical new approach to help fix what the current systems were Designed to protect at all costs:
TOTAL POWER  - For the select few at the very top
ABSOLUTE CONTROL - Over Anything and Everything and insist on trying to dictate to absolute minutiae of every single personal decision made in one's life.

There Seems to be an ever increasing encroachment INTO our lives from either the State OR the Law.  There is a growing "Feeling" of unease & discontent that we are no longer totally in control of our own lives.
There needs to be a point where self sovereignty becomes the norm not the exception.
We Must be allowed to succeed fairly (and fail) without bias.
We are like Supplicants, Slowly But surely being decommissioned, That we are easily replaceable and are being Set aside as we wait for the next generation to replace us.
We feel that we do not have any real Security or Predictability in our own lives.


We have people today who work a +50hr working week and are still not earning enough to move above the poverty line..! How is this fair?
I am not talking about some Latin American despot regime here I'm talking about a western G7 Economy; One of the Wealthiest economies in the World and yet we continue to see Deprivation, people who are Deeply unhappy and Socioeconomically Deprived, With Only very limited access to the most basic of services which often are not even located in their own communities, making them inaccessible to practically the majority of those who these services are supposed to be for with no prospects of being able to "Enhance their lives"

We have one of the first times since records started [1990's] of Life expectances shows to be actually falling/reducing, The exact opposite of where it should be heading.

I could continue listing all these issues we have heard countless times before and have still had nothing been done about it... BUT I WONT...


Causality

It all boils down to a couple of root causes/issues with clear causality (cause & effect)

- We live in a Economy built on state handouts, Handouts to the Super wealthy which means these handouts are going to the people who need it the LEAST and the people who need it the MOST get the crumbs that fall from the top tables above, maybe a little extra TAX on top to continue to hold them down more.

The people who are shouting the loudest about People in receipt of benefits, continue to repeat the same old rhetoric:  "Sitting around all day doing Drugs/Drinking/Gambling" or that having any state hands outs as being a bad thing as they will.. ..Just waste it.

Trickle down economics was/is a Lie. Nothing substantial ever trickles down and whatever token amounts that does manage to fall through the gaps is worth Half as much as what if once did as prices were already inflated by the people at the very top of the ladder frontrunning asset purchases before those at the bottom runs of the ladder even manage to get a look in.


These are the Very SAME people who themselves are GETTING THE LARGEST OF ALL HANDOUTS DIRECLY FROM .GOVS.
 
These come in the form of government "Handouts" via Defence contracts or Contracts for PPE or Tax breaks for XYZ.. This is how the wealth Income gap has opened up, Not only opened up but massively accelerated between the people who "Have" when compared to the people who "Have Nothing"

Rentier-Capitalism I urge you to check out this link to Prof. Guy Standing work "The Precariat Under Renter Capitalism"
 https://www.ineteconomics.org/uploads/papers/STANDING-The-Precariat-under-Rentier-Capitalism-for-INET.pdf

This is just One tiny aspect to what is clearly happening..

- Currency Debasement .. How the value of mine and your money is being devalued (DEBASED)
Government's, Just like the average citizen are up to the necks in Debt.  The key difference is that Governments (Incl. Big Business) gain access to cheap or very close to cost free Liquidity via close to Zero percent Interest rates in various form. Govs can issue Bonds, T-Note Guilt, Bund etc. and promise to repay in 10, 20, 30yrs at a specific amount OR they can embark on Quantitative Easing "QE" which is where they Literally Print more money and/or add a few more "Zero's" to Treasury acct balances to raise that said stimulus. The problem here is that
1) How to repay after borrowing?
2) What happens to this liquidity after its been passed onto Businesses/institutions at close to Zero percent = In the Price of Asset Increasing/Ballooning Look at the Housing Market today!
3) The value of our money becomes Less valuable, If the .Gov has just added 10%/20% extra Liquidity to the system That means there is a direct effect on the value our same £10 or £20 note as it becomes proportionally less valuable when compared to before they printed that money AKA Currency Debasement
4) The compounding affect arises when you take the expansion of the Money Supply, adding to this the Increase in Asset prices, coupled with the costs of real world inflations multiplied by the costs of Years worth of Austerity makes for a pretty bleak picture for some and a Terrible reality for the majority..  


Solutions

There are a couple of methods and differing approaches which could help address some of these very real issues.
Firstly, This one is pretty fkin simple: PAY PEOPLE A REAL LIVING WAGE AND OFFER REAL JOB SECURITY!

Second, Stop debasing our Currency.
 
Third: Reduce the size of government. IMHO I believe it is to large, to inefficient and most of governments roles can already be replaced by not for profits OR even look into implementing the principles of DAO's/Smart Contracts

Fourth: Begin to TAX some of the Wealthiest top 0.01% NOW, not next year
I'm not even calling for Radical tax reform but rather just to apply Tax fairly now and get that into our Local services and peoples pockets

Fifth: Provide some kind of Universal Basic income Not a crazy amount just enough to allow people to actually live their lives not worrying about if they should Heat their homes or Eat some food. (This is pretty radical But not that far fetched from what is already going on ATM IMO)
 
[cite]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precariat
https://www.ineteconomics.org/uploads/papers/STANDING-The-Precariat-under-Rentier-Capitalism-for-INET.pdf
https://data.oecd.org/healthstat/life-expectancy-at-birth.htm

Those two arent the only ideologies that exist.

Some type of anarco primivism, there is no state everything is done by yourself for yourself, without trade, selling, buying, sharing, renting, working for someone else, lending, stealing.....
This one would not work too. Dont ask me how births would happen here.

There is also anarco tribalism, there is not state and everything is done by the tribe for the tribe, without trade, selling, buying....... between tribes, BUT you can leave a tribe with someone else to create your own tribe somewhere else. Or leave the tribe alone to create a one person tribe.
This one wouldnt works too. It would be impossible to make a tribe not trade with other tribe, or give something to another tribe for free, or steal from another tribe, or wage war with another tribe...... without having to mess with those tribes to stop them from not being ultra isolationist.

There is another ideology where you have no state, and everything you do you can keep yourself or send to a place X, if you send to this place you receive labour checks, those are like money with those changes, the amount of labour check you receive is ONLY based at the amount of time you spend creating the item, this labour check can only be used once and can only be used by yourself. You must buy stuff from this place X and the cost of it, is the amount of price someone used to make the thing.

The last one I will post about here is like the previous one, but means of prodution are collectively shared.


I am not saying any of those ideologies works, I am just posting them to show that communism and capitalism arent the only two economical ideologies that were proposed by people, you dont need to have communism to be able to not have capitalism or have capitalism to not have communism.

The ideology of Robot was not to take away jobs from humans but to assist us to handle some repetitive jobs without distractions. On the other hand, alot of people will get employed to operate the machine. But, what is more important in this era is to keep exploring and learning new skills because the world keeps changes in technology.

AI brings forth perfection to any task assigned to it. And, they will be reduction of workplace accidents. Like Op, it's a welcomed development. Although they must be disadvantages because people in that position occupied by a robot will lose their jobs.

This present era is era of personal development of ideas, because everybody is working directly from his own understanding and nobody is ready to depends on white cola job, when we values ourselves and encourage our efforts and development nothing will be difficult, so with our directe personal happen we will build am empire, this life we leave come to accomplish through our reasoning of independent life, but many people will not understand.

Today, We are living in the world of factories and machines. The moral values are falling down. There is no attention for building the character new generation.
 Life has become very fast.No one knows that how days and nights come and go then finally ends life. There is no satisfaction and peace of mind and heart. Today, nobody has the time to think about his creation objects, about the world and the objects of its creation.
So there is a need to think about these serious issues & ideologies.

In my opinion, in our time it is still not so easy to change the old ideology, it is very much fixed in our life, and I am afraid that only the next generation will be able to turn everything around. Nowadays there are still a lot of people who were born in the middle of the 20th century and earlier, of course, the emergence of a new ideology is possible, but the chances that it will be fixed at this stage are very small. In principle, thanks to the blockchain in the near future, the likelihood of a new ideology is high, although this is hindered by the current situation in the world, and this process is slowed down, in my opinion some other discovery is needed, a way of using the blockchain that will have a truly global impact and give a strong push forward.

I wrote a research paper for a university econ class that explored exactly this question. The thesis of the paper postulated the role of DAOs and blockchain tech as a societal paradigm shift beyond the capitalist mode of production.

Capitalism is made up of and perpetuated by the capitalist and worker classes. The core of my paper suggests the possibility (even inevitability) that we'll see a shift from capitalist production to DAO-ce tric production, where the division of labor rests between algorithm and participant. The ideology behind this is that blockchain tech enables this possibility of an algorithmic manager/CEO, which carries no upkeep cost and makes no error in judgement and performance. This takes the form of the DAO, and presents a manner of production through which capitalism breaks down: capitalistic production revolves around constant efforts to drive production costs as close to 0 as possible, once a zero input cost is achieved we've officially expanded beyond capitalism.

I coined this concept the blockchain mode of production, and my research suggested this is something we'll likely see (and are already seeing) first as a displacer to financial and digital industries but could potentially take on every component of society. There are already dozens of productions essentially pro iding DAO financial services: autonomous currency, peer-to-peer lending, trustless reputation systems, and so on. Other likely places for disruption including Insurance with autonomous, transparent insurance pools, and medicine with self-funding research and public IP.

If anyone is interested in reading the paper I could perhaps post it here or provide the link to the Google Doc.

The ones I put as an example are more than three centuries old. If the new ones last at century, I would consider that good enough.

I believe, with the help of Artificial Intelligence (or maybe because of them) we will have a different ideology in the near future. I'm not sure when they're gonna be ruling all of our systems, but when they do, we need to change.

and probably we will live under a machine-based ideology that humans have not created. We created a intellect, it will work for us (hopefully)

In my understanding, we all living in the world do not need any new worldview. Of course, a person likes to believe in something new and promising, and it only hurts us.
P.S. You just need to: live happily, go to your favorite work, grow up healthy children ...

We're well passed the era of trying to wrap economics around carefully crafted ideologies. Maybe you can make a new one, but it won't be long until those ideas become obsolete too at the rate of progress.

You are envisioning something that the first futurists saw, at the moment in which the industrial revolution emerged, some futurists like Oscar Wilde proposed that we would reach a point in tech developement that all basic needs and manual work were fulfilled and done by the machines, freeing the human and letting him focus on only making more "elevated" work such as art, philosophy and more tech developement.

I would say that a technocracy would be the ideology by which the world must be ruled.
Letting important decisions of any field to the best minds in that field and not to a bunch of incompetents driven only by their self benefit agenda.

Capitalism is about distribution of resources. Rather than centralizing and distributing the resources from there, it allows for a more distributed system.

Communism is about everyone contributing towards a better society, and everyone being able to reap the rewards of those contributions.

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Automation is not something to be feared, but something to embrace. Ideally, we'd reduce and remove all labor. Allow individuals to reap the rewards of the automation contributions to society without worrying much about unequal or inadequate distribution of resources.

Cryptography could allow electronic voting (see Estonia).

I'm not sure how much of a resource an immutable blockchain will really do for the people. Perhaps voting, but even then, only issuing one token per identity per issue (liquid democracy +  blockchain voting) is more an identity management thing than a blockchain thing. Even then, in a liquid democracy, ideally if a representative cheats your vote, you'd want to retrieve your token back from that individual for that issue and send it to the other side's wallet instead.

Smart contracts can be helpful in decreeing laws and such, but it still requires people to enforce.

Most of the ideologies are about to be past their use-by-date. That is, we have ideologies that are telling us about how wealth is created and how should it be distributed mostly.

Capitalism is about those who have, and get paid for investing their money and those who only have their work, and get paid for their time and effort. (not that it works that well). Communism is about everyone getting paid for their effort (not that it really works at all).

However, those ideas and setting the focus just on those solutions belongs to an industrial society. It seems that we are still arguing about things that are being replaced. The typical example are repetitive jobs being replaced by robots or machines and even some high level jobs and decissions being taken by artificial intelligences.

So we have here something "new", the value will be added by "bots" and IA that don´t require to "get paid". The best know proposal to deal with this, is the Robot Tax.

We need new ideologies and we need to place the focus of our future philosophy on the moral issues between man and machine, wherever that frontier is set. Do DAO and crypto can be a mean to address some of this issues?