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Has capitalism increased hatred in the human race?

Has capitalism increased hatred in the human race?


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MildSteel

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Capitalism leverages the greed in humans to fuel productivity. However, greed is based on selfishness, which produces hatred of others.

As such, has the advance in capitalism resulted in an increase in hatred in the human race?
 
There is no system or economic structure a country could follow that is not immune to greed and to prevent contempt from the populace. So no, Capitalism doesn't breed hatred, and if it did it is no better at it than socialism, communism, or any other "Ism" one can think up.
 
Because people will be soooo much less hateful if we were to take away more money from them. Seriously what the ****.
 
No. If anything, the ascendancy of capitalism has correlated with a dramatic rise in living standards and general empathy.
 
There is no system or economic structure a country could follow that is not immune to greed and to prevent contempt from the populace. So no, Capitalism doesn't breed hatred, and if it did it is no better at it than socialism, communism, or any other "Ism" one can think up.

It is true that no system is immune to its influence. And part of the problem with the communism, at least how I understand it, is that it thinks it can be eradicated. That said, capitalism does seek to leverage greed, and in so doing encourages its growth. Greed is experienced to various degrees, depending on how individuals cultivate it. As such, the case can be made that capitalism creates conditions such that individuals are more prone to develop and cultivate greed which increases its growth. An increase in hate is the result. On the other hand, socialist models are more based on the notion of sharing. As such, the case can be made that they have the effect of limiting greed, although not eliminating it.
 
Because people will be soooo much less hateful if we were to take away more money from them. Seriously what the ****.

Capitalism creates huge imbalances with some people having no wealth at all. That is a problem.
 
No. If anything, the ascendancy of capitalism has correlated with a dramatic rise in living standards and general empathy.

Your observation concerning living standards depends on what you perceive living standards to be. And your observation on empathy is totally false.
 
Your observation concerning living standards depends on what you perceive living standards to be.

Income and housing stability, hunger, disease, creature comforts. Humanity has made tremendous strides in all conceivable facets in the last 30 years, let alone the last 300.

And your observation on empathy is totally false.

And that's your perception. :)
 
The short answer is yes. Competition for resources which are controlled by a small fraction of the world's population and artificial scarcity created by this same group causes hatred.
 
Capitalism leverages the greed in humans to fuel productivity. However, greed is based on selfishness, which produces hatred of others.

As such, has the advance in capitalism resulted in an increase in hatred in the human race?

That is incorrect, for one core reason. There has never been a system of economy that treated all humans with equality. Straight up, we have never achieved a sense of human productivity that equated to all sharing the rewards in any equal portion sense. Even going back to the earliest economies.

Just about every economic model humanity has devised ended up producing those who have and those who do not, and as such just about every economic model we can study going back to ancient times ended up with bureaucracy, controls, and the results of underline human greed. Greed for all things, which transcends just purchasing power in an economy but also social and governmental power over that economic model. This was true of early tribalism, early economies throughout all of the ancient empires, the larger global empires all the way up through the 1800s and 1900s, and of course most modern nations today. No matter where they all were in the development, greed made its way through. No matter where the economic bar is in those economic models, a lean to market economy forces or planned economy forces, you still ended up with the basic truth that someone won and someone else lost. Someone was in control, and others were along for the ride. Aristocracy, in some form, always existed.

So selfishness, greed, and all the things that "produce hatred of others" has always existed... there is no possible roses and sunshine view of earlier economies, often built on the backs of slavery (no matter how you define slavery from actual human ownership to economic ownership.) All capitalism achieved then, was acceleration and a higher amplitude of the economic cycle. And all of this explains well why most modern economic models are mixed, and with that we still get aristocracy. And we still get plenty that go without.
 
Income and housing stability, hunger, disease, creature comforts. Humanity has made tremendous strides in all conceivable facets in the last 30 years, let alone the last 300.

Income does not necessarily translate into an increased standard of life. First of all I have known people who made good money, but spent more than their income could reasonably support and who therefore ended up miserable. Not only that, but I make way more money than my mother's father, but he had a very nice 80 acre farm and was self sufficient. As far as hunger goes, perhaps people are better fed than were the barbaric people of Europe thousands of years ago, but the simple natives in Florida had plenty to eat. It was only when the cruel Europeans showed up and enslaved them did they start to experience a decline in their standard of living. Disease, part of the problem is that so many diseases have occurred like diabetes that are the result of overindulgence as the result of the capitalist lifestyle. And as creature comforts go, capitalism has resulted in enormous filthy slums filled with disease all over the world. For instance, the Israelis have kept over a million Palestinian people in a large slum where raw sewage flows in the street.

And that's your perception.

Indeed it is my perception and it is based on the reality that capitalism is about making money, and making money is not centered on empathizing with people. I remember when I was young and was struggling in sales. I used to empathize with people when they would tell me things like "O, I am on a budget." This expert told me, look you are not going to sell anything like that. One of two things happens when a you encounter a prospective customer, either you will convince them to buy it, or they will convince you that they cannot. Making money is not about empathizing with people.
 
Capitalism creates huge imbalances with some people having no wealth at all. That is a problem.

Life does that. Do think socialism doesn't have to deal with the differences in people? Did the hunter and gather societies that socialists love so much have to deal with those differences? Maybe you should create a system that somehow avoids the issue. Come on, lets see some ideas on a system where everyone is equal and it all works great.
 
Life does that. Do think socialism doesn't have to deal with the differences in people? Did the hunter and gather societies that socialists love so much have to deal with those differences? Maybe you should create a system that somehow avoids the issue. Come on, lets see some ideas on a system where everyone is equal and it all works great.

Although there are indeed differences in life, the response "taking money from people" does not address the fact that capitalism creates huge imbalances in wealth, more than the type of socialist systems that people have been conditioned to abhor. Of course socialist systems have to deal with differences in people, and in fact, one of the great flaws of communism is that it is based on the naive premise that somehow or another humans will evolve into this species in which greed will be abolished. However, that does not take away from the fact that capitalism creates an environment in which the destructive quality of greed can develop to a greater degree in society in general, than it otherwise would in a more socialist system. And because of this greater degree of greed, a greater degree of hate manifests itself in the minds of people in general. That is one of its flaws. The question is whether its flaws outweigh its advantages.
 
Capitalism leverages the greed in humans to fuel productivity. However, greed is based on selfishness, which produces hatred of others.

As such, has the advance in capitalism resulted in an increase in hatred in the human race?

Are you friggin' kidding me!!???

For 5 millennia before the concept of free markets came around the whole damned world was more or less a bunch of warring tribes which resulted in it taking 2000 years to graduate from the water wheel to the steam engine. Since then, as Capitalism took root around the world it took 200 years to move from the steam engine to putting a man on the moon and bringing him back to earth.

Just my opinion but I think that kind of thing speaks volumes for the positive results Capitalism produces.
 
Are you friggin' kidding me!!???

For 5 millennia before the concept of free markets came around the whole damned world was more or less a bunch of warring tribes which resulted in it taking 2000 years to graduate from the water wheel to the steam engine. Since then, as Capitalism took root around the world it took 200 years to move from the steam engine to putting a man on the moon and bringing him back to earth.

Just my opinion but I think that kind of thing speaks volumes for the positive results Capitalism produces.

Although you have demonstrated that capitalism can produce results in the sphere of advanced technology, what you have ignored is that the resultant hate and malice have produced nuclear weapons that are capable of destroying capitalist civilization as we know it. As such is the water wheel better than the global destruction of human civilization?
 
Although you have demonstrated that capitalism can produce results in the sphere of advanced technology, what you have ignored is that the resultant hate and malice have produced nuclear weapons that are capable of destroying capitalist civilization as we know it. As such is the water wheel better than the global destruction of human civilization?

Fire is capable of wiping out a city too but we don't consider it to be dangerous unless it's uncontrolled or used maliciously. The same applies to nuclear weapons.

That being said, the technology that produced the bomb also produced nuclear reactors which provide electricity to millions of people around the world without pumping soot into the air or damming up rivers.
 
Fire is capable of wiping out a city too but we don't consider it to be dangerous unless it's uncontrolled or used maliciously. The same applies to nuclear weapons.

That being said, the technology that produced the bomb also produced nuclear reactors which provide electricity to millions of people around the world without pumping soot into the air or damming up rivers.

First of all the destructive power of a hydrogen bomb is far great than that of an uncontrolled fire. Not only that, but an uncontrolled fire does not unleash radioactive poison.

As far as your point about nuclear reactors, one need only consider the accidents of Chernobyl, Fukushima, and Three Mile Island to see the kind of disadvantages that come along with this type of power.

Over and above that, your response does not deal with the core issue that capitalism cultivates the destructive power of greed to achieve the results you praise. As such it increases the destructive quality of hate. The question is, do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?
 
First of all the destructive power of a hydrogen bomb is far great than that of an uncontrolled fire. Not only that, but an uncontrolled fire does not unleash radioactive poison.

As far as your point about nuclear reactors, one need only consider the accidents of Chernobyl, Fukushima, and Three Mile Island to see the kind of disadvantages that come along with this type of power.

Over and above that, your response does not deal with the core issue that capitalism cultivates the destructive power of greed to achieve the results you praise. As such it increases the destructive quality of hate. The question is, do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?

By that logic one only need look at the Tenerife accident to see how bad for us air travel is.
 
By that logic one only need look at the Tenerife accident to see how bad for us air travel is.

Well, there are pros and cons to everything. The question here is do the pros outweigh the cons. If capitalism results in the destruction of the human race as a result of the advancements in technology, we will have a definite answer.

That said, I am sitting here at my business posting between sales. I can tell you, it sure feels good counting tha money!!! :lamo
 
No, the opposite in some cases.

Capitalism has improved the human condition and experience profoundly.

It has given birth to the most progressive, egalitarian, and charitable nations on Earth, ones that do extremely well in happiness polls and occupy the entirety of the world's most prosperous and innovative nations.

It is an imperfect system with visible drawbacks here and there, but it's still a damn good when done well. As for greed, no system is immune to it as we have seen so many times in history. Greed is one of the constants in humanity, it's not going anywhere, not now and not ever, how we deal with it is what will change.

Humans don't need any help in hating each other.

Capitalism creates huge imbalances with some people having no wealth at all. That is a problem.

No, that's the default setting of the world. Capitalism does not create those imbalances, they were there from the start.

Inequality is a staple of nature.
 
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Capitalism was certainly an improvement from the feudal mode of production that it superseded. Feudalism was too an improvement from the slave society that it replaced. Modes of production have consistently, since the fall of the hunter-gatherer society, fostered hatred and a brutish competition for resources. Capitalism has taken competition and bloodthirstiness familiar to humanity and expanded its scope to the national stage. Facilitated by the rise of the modern nation state and the corporation, human relations have been commodified, and the profit motive has subjugated large swathes of the globe's population. When compared to the ethical standards of past systems, capitalism looks rather neat and humane, just as feudalism would look when compared to slavery. Only someone guileless could claim that capitalism is objectively humane, considering its expansion led to colonialism, both World Wars, and continued imperialism to this day.

Capitalism has modernized the world in spectacular fashion. But with that has come much bloodshed, despair, and oppression. We could rather harness the technology that exists today and channel it into creating a vastly superior system.
 
Although there are indeed differences in life, the response "taking money from people" does not address the fact that capitalism creates huge imbalances in wealth, more than the type of socialist systems that people have been conditioned to abhor.

So what? Forcing everyone to be equal doesn't take any real skill. It's a simple matter of having enough force to do it.

Of course socialist systems have to deal with differences in people, and in fact, one of the great flaws of communism is that it is based on the naive premise that somehow or another humans will evolve into this species in which greed will be abolished. However, that does not take away from the fact that capitalism creates an environment in which the destructive quality of greed can develop to a greater degree in society in general, than it otherwise would in a more socialist system. And because of this greater degree of greed, a greater degree of hate manifests itself in the minds of people in general. That is one of its flaws. The question is whether its flaws outweigh its advantages.

Oh please, in a socialist system the leaders greed is all that matters. You don't eliminate greed by stomping people down to keep them all equal.

I love people with dreams, but you got to make a plan to get there and realize that nothing is perfect no matter what. Capitalism improved peoples living standards more than any other system known to man and that includes socialism that can do nothing but feed off the fruits of other systems. Socialism is a parasite that causes societies to stagnant and become dependent on growth coming from government. Socialism takes the life blood out of capitalism and anything it comes into contact with.
 
Capitalism leverages the greed in humans to fuel productivity. However, greed is based on selfishness, which produces hatred of others.

As such, has the advance in capitalism resulted in an increase in hatred in the human race?

No. Actually capitalism is the perfect match to natural human behavior. Therefore capitalism, managed by laws and social ethics, is the best system one can hope for.

Your argument seems to rely on a false notion that hatred in the human race is a new phenomenon. It isn't. On the contrary, capitalism is a system that is established to enrich all participants ideally, whereas socialist/communist systems are established precisely due to the reason you cite which is greed and hatred (of the successful).
 
No. Actually capitalism is the perfect match to natural human behavior. Therefore capitalism, managed by laws and social ethics, is the best system one can hope for.

Your argument seems to rely on a false notion that hatred in the human race is a new phenomenon. It isn't. On the contrary, capitalism is a system that is established to enrich all participants ideally, whereas socialist/communist systems are established precisely due to the reason you cite which is greed and hatred (of the successful).

And envy most of all.

Capitalism was certainly an improvement from the feudal mode of production that it superseded. Feudalism was too an improvement from the slave society that it replaced. Modes of production have consistently, since the fall of the hunter-gatherer society, fostered hatred and a brutish competition for resources. Capitalism has taken competition and bloodthirstiness familiar to humanity and expanded its scope to the national stage. Facilitated by the rise of the modern nation state and the corporation, human relations have been commodified, and the profit motive has subjugated large swathes of the globe's population. When compared to the ethical standards of past systems, capitalism looks rather neat and humane, just as feudalism would look when compared to slavery. Only someone guileless could claim that capitalism is objectively humane, considering its expansion led to colonialism, both World Wars, and continued imperialism to this day.

Capitalism has modernized the world in spectacular fashion. But with that has come much bloodshed, despair, and oppression. We could rather harness the technology that exists today and channel it into creating a vastly superior system.

@bold: Call us when that system comes into existence, should be a grand old time. But, for now, it doesn't exist.

Also, colonialism/imperialism in the rawest sense were around long before any modern notions of a capitalist framework. The love of empire is an old one for mankind.
 
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Capitalism leverages the greed in humans to fuel productivity. However, greed is based on selfishness, which produces hatred of others.

As such, has the advance in capitalism resulted in an increase in hatred in the human race?

One thing that Capitalism does is perpetuate hate filed leftist propaganda.
 
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