• HumanOnEarth@lemmy.ca
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    16 hours ago

    It’s unbridled capitalism because the one and only priority is profit. And those with the money to chase this profit are the ones who refuse to entertain the idea of paying more taxes.

    Taxes can correct unaccounted-for externalities. But we refuse to force the capital class to do it.

    That’s how it’s capitalism. To my knowledge there is no mechanism in place to ensure that the capital class does not simply throw us to the wolves when our labor is no longer needed.

    It’s capitalism. And it’s about to eat itself.

    • Auth@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      This feels like a bit of a contradiction. AI is good for healthcare tree planting and lifeguarding but a retail robot is capitalism gone to far. I dont buy the idea that this is purely driven by capitalism and corporate greed because it neglects the fact that these robots are currently way more expensive than human labor. This is emerging technology and what we are seeing here is a partnership between two companies to start realworld testing a new tech. They dont expect it to be better or more cost effective its R&D. We would expect to see the same in every single effective economic system because its just a basic human development process. Maybe a decade down the line when these become more cost effective than human labour you could say they’re replacing human labour for profit but we arent there or even close to there. Then even when we get to that future reality where your comment now makes sense its still not the result of captialism, every half decent economic system would cashiers with robots if they were good enough.

      As for the bit about there being no protection from the big scary captial class, we do have protection it’s called a government. Capitalism and public regulation aren’t mutually exclusive. If the need to increase tax and welfare arises then we can do that within our current system but the reality is there is still a normal amount of employment available for humans considering we’re entering a world recession.

      Hopefully I was interpreting your point correctly, if I wasnt please let me know because it was a bit chaotic.

      • HumanOnEarth@lemmy.ca
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        13 hours ago

        If the need to increase tax and welfare arises then we can do that within our current system

        You sure about that?

        I appreciate your reply, but this one line alone is enough to tell me we’re too far apart to engage productively.