Property is TheftCurrent Working Directoryhttp://current.workingdirectory.net/posts/2012/property-is-theft/Current Working Directoryikiwiki2012-04-22T19:44:04ZYes. And here's a random thought from the internets.http://current.workingdirectory.net/posts/2012/property-is-theft/comment_1_fcd917407659fd598ff3f403cae0dd9b/Anonymous2012-04-22T19:44:04Z2012-04-05T01:28:41Z
<p>You say:</p>
<p>"While many people point to corporate use of free software as an argument for why free software and capitalism are perfectly compatible, the truth may be more complicated. Fundamentally, and in a non-confrontational way, free software seems to undermine one of the basic tenants of capitalist: worker alienation."</p>
<p>The following parable (apparently attributed to Lenin) leaps to mind:</p>
<p>"The Capitalist will sell us the Rope that we will hang them with."</p>
<p>And I would like to take this opportunity to make it clear that I do not wish to hang the capitalist (as a matter of fact, for years, I have been telling the capitalist to go wait up against the wall).</p>
<p>On the other hand, just as the capitalist will literally sell the rope (or as in this case embrace the free software building blocks of anarcho-socialist utopia), the socialist will be all humanist and fair and sharing and helpful, which, in the market is like figuratively selling that rope.</p>
<p>Competing with socialism in the omnipresent capitalist market is an uphill battle. Selfishness, greed and a willingness to ruthlessly exploit others will give an advantage in the competition. At least in the short term.</p>
<p>On the third hand, looking at the health and happiness of people in a society, it turns out that the most socialist of the democratic societies have faired the best, so even if the big bad market is pushing for privatization of everything and ruthless competition is threatening to crush ideas of civilized civilization, more socialism is clearly the sensible long term sustainable solution.</p>
<p>Democracy is a key ingredient. A despotic/tyrannical interim government àla Soviet Russia is not a good idea.</p>
<p>Distributed, decentralized direct democracy, where everyone gets to decide on everything they want is the simple answer. It would logically lead to socialism and a mostly planned economy. If we all just "sat down" to decide on everything together it would be more efficient than the current capitalist market with its entrepreneurs running around en masse, effectively blindly flinging their marketing bullshit and business ideas around everywhere, hoping to hit business opportunities.</p>
<p>All we need now for a pretty straight path to utopia (no more need for the same amount of slow back and forth of the pendulum of history) is some sort of global network where we all can come together to discuss and decide everything.</p>