jack [he/him, comrade/them] @ jack @hexbear.net

Posts

3

Comments

141

Joined

5 yr. ago

Do universal simulationists believe in an anthropocentric simulation? They really gotta go all the way to reinventing a personal god who cultivates all of creation around human experience while remaining invisible and omniscient, but this time it's a robot they're inside of.

How can that be true if I don't want it to be?

We need huge farming fields to satisfy the market, aka our bellies, clothing needs, etc..

Not accurate! As an ML you should know that the USSR pioneered and implemented on a large scale far more sustainable agriculture than we've ever seen in the US. Read the book. https://www.iskrabooks.org/communism-the-highest-stage-of-ecology

I met a Chinese exchange student at my local college Palestine encampment last year. He was finishing up his masters and was about to go back to China after having been here a few years. He said in China he was a pro-west liberal who thought Marxism was outdated and the party was silly, but after seeing America in such detail he became a dedicated Marxist-Leninist and anti-imperialist who wore a hammer and sickle medallion everywhere and was planning to join the party when he returned. I hope he followed through.

Either you're misunderstanding this or I'm misunderstanding you. This is showing that people in China believe the PRC is very democratic and therefore they support it, not that they envy western "democracy". The Chinese people enjoy far more democracy than people in the imperial core.

My first and least secret is my garden. Second and slightly more secret are a few spots along the lake/river blocked by thickets and bushes I like to slip through. Third and most secret requires arcane knowledge.

I genuinely do not envy everyone in the lower 48 right now.

You're gonna sit out the fun?

Oh shit, send him a letter to let him know!

We need to do a literal fucking revolution

what part of it is untrue

Idk any more than you do.

that's obvious

only buy things made in China and Vietnam

Really, really excited to read this!

Wish it was many more

More like a kid trying to give a teacher detention

I gave that first FAQ link a read. I don't think any serious critique of anarchism as political theory rests on "anarchists want total individualism without any organization" (now, anarchist activists on the other hand do often have that issue). The critique is that the goal anarchists want to achieve - a truly non-hierarchical and voluntary society - can't be reached in a single step, and hence coercive state mechanisms lead by working-class socialist democracy are a necessary intermediate stage. For example, pulling a Bakunin quote from the piece:

"At the moment of revolution, in the midst of the struggle, there is a natural division of functions according to the aptitude of each, assessed and judged by the collective whole: Some direct and others carry out orders. But no function remains fixed and it will not remain permanently and irrevocably attached to any one person. Hierarchical order and promotion do not exist, so that the executive of yesterday can become the subordinate of tomorrow. No one rises above the others, and if he does rise, it is only to fall back again a moment later, like the waves of the sea forever returning to the salutary level of equality..” [Bakunin on Anarchism, pp. 414–5]

Here isnthe main issue: the moment of revolution itself creates the new world, the new order of absolute equality and abolition of all hierarchy. This is totally unrealistic - huge swathes of society will still be embedded in hierarchical mindsets. The physical infrastructure and supply lines will depend on uneven distribution of resources and knowledge that can't be instantly turned over. The operation of industrial society is os so vast and complicated that it can't simply ve rewritten in a single day - very few people and systems are prepared to so radically change without dramatic decreases in production and output.

The egalitarian society must be constructed through hard work across the whole of society with many opposing classes and groups who do not want to build socialism and will work actively to undermine it. How do you deal with the fascists and capitalists who will scheme to tear down the new society and restore their old exploitative privileges? How does the moment of revolution change them such that they cannot carry out those goals? You need capacity to repress those people.

And the ideas of the masses will still be influenced by the old capitalist order, so we must also do the hard work of convincing billions people to live in accordance with free and equal association, which takes a constant and improving demonstration that socialism is worth building and fighting for. What will you do if after the revolution, 40% of people just don't want to live that way? Will you give up, because it would take the exertion of authority to advance society? I hope not, or the gains of the revolution are wasted.

And of course, what if the revolution doesn't sweep the whole world all at once? How will you defend your revolution from the massive military machines of the imperialists, which wield their coercive and exploitative systems as an industrial holocaust against you?

I know these aren't new questions to anarchists, so please direct me to the standing answers.

the other is whether one accepts that anarchist revolutions were actually successful on anarchist terms countless of times

Ok, I'm genuinely not sure what you're referring to here. Can you give some examples?

The post wasn't made on Hexbear, I assume specifically for complying with the left unity rule. But it's also a thoughtful critique of anarchism, or at least trying to be - that's perfectly permissible within left unity. We can criticize each other.

Sorry, what's the appropriate response to that high quality comment I was replying to? I made a very basic critique of anarchism after they made a direct accusation of being "traitors".

Ok that would be really cool, I hope we can skip straight to full communism. You get to work.