Thread by @kane

Since this is still up, and I have relatives that were literally (not metaphorically) shot against the wall by communists, here are some thoughts 1/

https://twitter.com/dickc/status/1311472075903647750

2/ communism is dangerous because it gives the state a monopoly over everything. Those CEOs and monopolists you hate under capitalism? Make them legislator, judge, jury, and executioner as well. That’s communism

3/ capitalism is not statecraft, nor is it a perfect solution to unbound problems. It’s very good at rapidly finding optimal solutions to parameterized systems. The state exists to set proper parameters based on its societal values, which are worth debating

4/ no one except for facetious internet commenters believe in “pure” capitalism, eg. even the most die hard capitalist balks at the idea of selling children for food (which, ironically happened during the communist Great Leap Forward)

5/ like all systems, w new technologies and ideas you can get to degenerate “optimal” states - you could argue that over-finacialization of the economy is an example. Regulations are lossy proxies for “good” society, and should evolve with technology.

6/ the idea of communism is great, but is built on the dangerous assumption that you can consistently find Benevolent Dictators (lol) that are also excellent at managing hugely complex systems

6/ capitalism gives power to companies; communism gives power to the state. The people that want power and influence don’t suddenly disappear under communism. It’s just suddenly they control the army, party, AND companies.

7/ side note, it’s wild that capitalism has pulled more people out of abject poverty than any other policy, but bc of over-finacialization people want to throw it all away

Communism has the historical Triple Crown in genocide, famine, and poverty - but we should try it again? 🤨

8/ the capitalism v communism debate feels a lot like the medical research v Faith-healing debate: “oh, you don’t know the *perfect* answer to [very complicated unscoped problem]? Your entire framework must be WRONG bc my system claims to know the answer”

9/ it’s easy to flip the table, it’s a lot harder to make the game fair (and understanding the situations that lead people to think communism is a good idea is important) - but the latter is worth doing. Never go full communism. Kasparov said it best:

https://twitter.com/Kasparov63/status/1211724859950153739