[ExI] Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit

[spike]

On Behalf Of Giovanni Santostasi
Subject: Re: [ExI] Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit

 

>.I think too much competition (and narrow minded goals) is the problem not
the good thing about capitalism.

 

Cool, we can find out which is best.  Let's have a competition.

 

>. Plus is not really true this form of capitalism (corporatism) is always
fostering competition, not at least healthy forms of competition, there are
so many monopolies and nested companies.

 

Ja!  A wonderful mix is seen, with competitors sometimes working together to
whoop a third competitor, then more competitors forming defacto teams to
devour others.  Constructive chaos ensues.  In the very long run, even the
losers win, because they leave the loser company and join the guy that
whooped them.  Then they work together on the better products that won
before.

 

>.Sometime humans need to cooperate instead of competing to achieve
grandiose goals.

 

Exactly!  This is what capitalism does so very well: people work together,
cooperate to compete, the best products rise to the top and make the winners
rich!  Young people see the winners, and want to be like them.  When we were
kids who would have guessed that the geek would inherit the earth?  Yet here
was Bill Gates, and it would be hard to imagine a geekier guy, who ends up
owning everything that is worth having.  You and I reap the benefits, and to
some extent pay the price.  Life is good.

 

>.Even great national collaborative efforts, like early space exploration,
that seemed propelled by international competition with other nations was
actually killed by it when the space race was perceived to be won.

 

Ja, the big manned rocket systems were funded because it developed for us
the ability to lift weapons and deliver them to the bad guys, and the
control systems to steer them accurately on their way.  Turns out we didn't
need to do that, but we got the rocket systems and advanced control systems
out of the deal.  The fact that we and the commies developed these advanced
rockets and nukes meant we didn't need to face each other on the battlefield
and hurl chunks of metal at each other.  Now we really don't need to do that
at all (even though some primitive savages are still doing it.)  

 

In evolution, there is the term preadaptation, an example being feathers
evolved as heat retention mechanisms, but eventually worked great for
flying.  Our rockets were developed for lifting nukes, but eventually worked
great for flying.

 

>.If the goal was that of competing with one self, to go to the next step
civilizations would have higher and more ambitious goals.  Giovanni

 

Economically whooping ass can be a higher and more ambitious goal.  In the
long run, competition is our friend.

 

spike

 

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