by Doug Maverick
@dougmaverick
I complain about a lot, I'm sure. I argue a lot. Sometimes I'm contrarian just for sake of alleviating boredom. But the thing I try to do in an argument with willing-minded people is to deconstruct the argument. What is the concept behind whatever specific tweet we're arguing over for no reason? What beliefs have led other people to think this way?
Skipping a generation, and letting its horrors fade into obscurity, Socialism frequently becomes the sweetheart of the Left, a system to morally resolve all Capitalism's shortcomings. To me though, Capitalism, the system that prizes innovation and self-accountability has been the most moral boon to society; and is the reason that so many now live with technological advancements that the richest of just a century ago could not even fathom.
But where does the idea re-ignite Socialism kindle? In my opinion it stems from another odious, short-sighted aphorism that rears it head from time to time (notoriously by Charles Holland Duell at one point) that basically "everything has already been invented." If this were true (or mostly true), it'd probably be time to starting dividing things fairly or start widespread universal basic income because Capitalism's secret power, the spur to innovate, is dead.
This path invariably leads to a tiresome diatribe on income inequality, which is a silly metric on its own. Some countries have almost zero income inequality yet languish because everyone is poor (often due to failed socialism). A much better metric to measure would be an answer to the question "do people have what they need? Are the lives of those in poverty getting better?" For many in the lower class, that are able to afford a computer that can reach every depth of information on the internet, or a smartphone that can stream live video conversations with loved ones countries away, life is getting much better. Even the "democratic socialist" countries of Scandinavia (which aren't socialist, but feature a larger social safety net) benefit MASSIVELY from the innovations of capitalism.
I cannot prove to you a negative (that there is nothing further to invent), but I can refer to the conceptual folly it would be for us to think it in our realm of imagination to consider such a thing. Previous cultures would not have thought of the internet but instead perhaps of a telegram machine that could fly incredibly quickly. They might not think of a video camera but instead of an artist who could draw incredibly accurately. The point is that these realms of imagining are mostly beyond us, and that INNOVATION and CREATIVITY (the driving forces of capitalism) have done more for the masses than fairly divvying up the fast horses or paying for everyone to have the same number of interior torches EVER could have done.
