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The Next Social Revolution?
Cryofan writes "In a recent interview, Howard Rheingold (author of Smart Mobs) discussed the possibility of a 'new economic system' born of 'unconscious cooperation' embodied by such technologies as Google links and Amazon lists, Wikipedia, wireless devices using unlicensed spectrum, Web logs, and open-source software. Rheingold speculates that 'the technology of the Internet, reputation systems, online communities, mobile devices...may make some new economic system possible....We had markets, then we had capitalism, and socialism was a reaction to industrial-era capitalism. There's been an assumption that since communism failed, capitalism is triumphant, therefore humans have stopped evolving new systems for economic production.' However, Rheingold is worried that established companies with business models that are threatened by these new technologies could 'quash such nascent innovations as file-sharing -- and potentially put the U.S. at risk of falling behind the rest of the world.'"
...but doing so would probably sentence me to a diagnosis of mentally insane.
+++ATHZ 99:5:80
Are you saying the giant corporations might do something that's not in the interest of the public good?
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[Big Brick Wall]
our new longwinded summary overlords....
--- Relax, that mass muderer is just trying to reduce our carbon footprint, one fetus at a time...
What's this term "social" you speak up?
"Unconscious cooperation?" Why, it's almost as if it's being guided by...an "invisible hand!"
"Johnny, did the Invisible Hand touch you in your 'special place'?"
What are you, a retard?
Yes.
Can you build your own computer?
Yes
And I'm not talking some 8-bit micro controller thing you cobbled together from parts you picked up at RadioShack.
Well, yes, I've built on of those... but I didn't get the parts at Radio Shack.
I'm asking, can you build, in your back yard from raw materials, a general purpose computer?
No I can not turn rocks, dirt, and dog feces from my yard into a computer.
I'm betting that, perhaps, one one-thousandth of the slashdot readership has even the beginnings of the capability to do that.
Everyone has the "beginnings of the capability" to do whatever the hell they want.
The rest of us are consumers however much we'd like to think of ourselves as somehow above the comman man.
Eh? Everyone consumes. No shame in that.
But the fact is we buy our equipment from big corporations.
You can buy all kinds of stuff from small corporations. Often better stuff than the big corps sell.
Those big corporations will take whatever steps are necessary to stay in business and prosper.
Good for them, but faced with a big enough threat, they won't.
If that means that the common computer goes the way of the dodo bird and more stringently controlled systems replace them, then that's what will happen.
Why does that have to happen?
Stop acting like you're some kind of god and that the rules of economics don't apply to you.
If I write you a check for a trillion dollars will you shut up? Or do I have to send a plague on you and your family?
Fucking moron.
Indeed. Sorry I piped up.
Haha. Ice vendors who have the financial and political muscle to outlaw fridges, send secret police around confiscating them, and poison your childrens' minds with "artificial refrigeration is an evil abomination" propaganda coming from "unconnected" think tanks.
Yes, don't worry at all.
All that needs to be done is to abolish property and the state
Ok. We'll get right on that. Is next Friday soon enough, or do you need it earlier?
No I can not turn rocks, dirt, and dog feces from my yard into a computer.
Amateur...
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You mean people who celebrate X-mas?
Sounds great. Tell ya what - you go first. I'll hold onto your property while you're busy on that abolish-the-state thing.
> And once the majority of the people are not coerced to wage slavery or unemployment (as under capitalism) and have most of their time off to do what they want to do in addition to what little is needed to produce the basic essentials of life, everyone will be much better off.
Yes, we went over this. Neither of us are wage slaves, and during my free time, I hold onto your property. And you go and abolish the state.
> And to make people work, no oppression machinery like the state is needed, just social pressure.
So what are you waiting for? Gimme your stuff! What are you, some kinda chicken? :)
Soo instead of the government forcing me to do stuff it'll be my neighbors. And because the laws not written, i have no recourse. Take that Hammurabi! But i suppose we'll worry about that after we fundamentally change the human mind.
http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp12102002.shtml
it's because only Americans are stupid enough to pay money for frozen water?
(yes I'm joking, and American.)
'new economic system' born of 'unconscious cooperation' embodied by such technologies as Google links and Amazon lists
The last time I checked my car didn't run on Google Links and Amazon lists and I didn't sleep inside a Blog. An economic system has to deal with the physical world, and where the rubber meets the road is where all the conflict has been over the course of human history We're talking about the distribution of SCARE resources like oil, timber, cement, skilled labor, etc. not things that can be effortlessly and almost endlessly copied, like computer programs. Maybe he's talking about a new form of commerce, or a new concept of intellectual property but he's nowhere near a new economic system.
also self-destructing....
btw I had to turn off the windows firewall built into SP2 to access slashdot... great job capitalism!!!!!!!
The best education consists in immunizing people against systematic attempts at education. - Paul Feyerabend
I don't mean to outright disagree, and I offer this simply for the sake of argument.
I think a lot of us over-estimate the power of the consumer in our incarnation of capitalism. Truth be told, companies have far greater wealth than we do. Business to business trade is still developing, but its possible for these archaic companies which we so hate to remain profitable simply from corporate sales. I offer as an example Microsoft and the Xbox. Sales to business alone would keep Microsoft a dominant player in most of their markets.
Its an interesting mind experiment is to think of a network of companies entirely insulated from consumers, and each still profitable. Of course we can't get there without oppressive taxes and foolish government spending, but already there are many companies with shoddy consumer product divisions that could care less.
Right, let's drag both Hitler and religion into the conversation. Why do you hate this thread?
Let's rephrase what you just said: I mean, some places *said* they were communists, but North Korea also calls itself the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea". That still doesn't make North Korea a republic, a democracy or people's anything.
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If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, where does the road paved with evil intentions lead to?
Because Spain, Portugal, France, Itally, Greece, Croatia are really chilly.
I take your point, and it certainly applies to Northern Europe, I just couldn't resist the jab =)
However, it is fictional, i.e. NOT REAL... and Star Trek is not real either, no matter how much some people wish otherwise.
4 045hyvlcE
Tell that to this guy http://community.webshots.com/photo/70233469/7023
"Insert Sig Here"
I noticed this on a trip to England. Drove me nuts; I'd tell them I want a glass of water with "lots of ice, fill the damned thing up with ice if you have to", and then I'd get 2 cubes. Maybe 3. They just don't understand that here in Florida your life consists of staggering from one cool refreshing drink to the next.
Dyolf Knip