Labour is considering scaling back ambitious plans to borrow £28bn a year to invest in green jobs and industry amid fears the Conservatives will use the policy as a central line of attack in the general election campaign....
Assume that the future can change based on your actions, so any historical information that you bring along with you from the intervening 25 years may quickly drift out of the new realities history....
Heat pumps are efficient at very low temperatures now, and are suitable for the vast majority of homes.
However, in the literal Arctic you probably will need an additional heat source. This could be resistive electric, but tbh so few people live that far north that I’d be fine with them using fossil fuels. Their emissions would be a rounding error on a global scale.
If we want to completely ban fossil fuels then biomass could be another option for the Arctic in winter.
I broadly agree with you, but would point out that the conflict isn’t necessarily limited to Gaza. There’ve been rockets flying back and forth across the Lebanese border, sporadic violence in the West Bank, and there’s always tension over the Golan Heights. Israel could find itself fighting a multi-front war against Hamas in Gaza, Lebanon/Hezbollah in the north west, Syria in the north east and Jordan in the east.
Not to mention Egypt aren’t exactly their best buds either, and a US warship recently intercepted missiles coming towards Israel from Houthi rebels in Yemen.
I’m hoping this doesn’t start a fight, I’m just curious what the political orientation is of this community. I grew up in a liberal (in the American sense) family, and I identify now as a socialist, though a lot of the liberalism I grew up in has stuck with me, like interest in LGBTQ and women’s rights, environmentalism,...
How can you have communism without a state forcing everyone to surrender their property?
If private property exists, that’s not communism. But to enforce communism you need a state so that’s not anarchy.
I believe anarchy and communism are polar opposites, and cannot co-exist. You’re either for anarchy (which ultimately leads to individualism and capitalism) or communism, which requires a huge controlling state to exist.
You’re right, I don’t have much knowledge of anarchism’s philosophical framework, but I do know that the definition of the word means that there is no authority.
In an anarchist society, what’s to stop me from accumulating wealth?
Furthermore, what would stop me from entering into voluntary contracts with others who agree to do labour in exchange for money?
Ultimately I think that without some authority (almost certainly a state) enforcing communism, the relationships we currently experience under capitalism will naturally reoccur. And (if my limited understanding of anarchy is correct, which I admit it might not be), under anarchism there can be no such authority preventing capitalism from happening.
Communism always needs to be enforced, it doesn’t happen naturally. Capitalism does. That’s why I don’t think communism can exist along with anarchy.
Thanks for the detailed reply. I hadn’t considered the difference between money and currency before. Maybe I still don’t fully understand it because I still think there would be an advantage to hoarding currency in any system where others are prepared to exchange goods or labour for that currency.
Trade would surely still occur, and it would be possible to profit from said trade. That profit would enable the trader to live a more luxurious life than those who make less or no profit, because he would be able to acquire more goods and have more work done for him by spending the profit. Consumerism would happen.
Even in a post-scarciry world I think we’d still have Ferengi.
I appreciate the reading recommendations. These are some fascinating ideas to understand for sure.
How are Microsoft and CNN part of the state? Aren’t they just providing a service in exchange for money, in the same way a farmer, an actor or a mechanic does?
Your landlord example is interesting, and does illustrate how a state may be necessary to enforce private ownership, which is something I hadn’t considered about capitalism before. I suppose the landlord could pay private militia to enforce their ownership claims over the land, but at that point the landlord is basically a warlord and realistically wouldn’t need to pay for the land in the first place. The libertarian idea that everyone would voluntarily respect private property rights now seems as absurd as the communist idea that everyone would voluntarily share all property.
I don’t quite see how hoarding property could be considered violent, assuming it was acquired peacefully. Using what you’ve acquired to gain materially is not necessarily exploitative if those gains come from voluntary exchange of goods and labour. If someone wants to clean my windows in exchange for some money, I don’t see how it can be violent to enable that transaction. No one’s being forced to do anything in that scenario.
The bay of pigs invasion and the red scare were attempts to stop communist ideology from spreading. This was done in order to perpetuate and protect the status quo in the USA for geopolitical reasons, but is not necessary for capitalism to function. Many nations start conflicts with each other because of a difference in ideology, and a perceived need to contain or counteract the ideology of the other nation, and this is not limited to capitalist societies. The USSR for example engaged in many conflicts with its neighbors in an attempt to export the revolution and spread its influence. Yet I wouldn’t say these conflicts were necessary for communism to function as a system, any more than the conflicts capitalist countries engaged in were necessary for capitalism to work.
I disagree that capitalism is not a natural state that things can revert to. I believe that if you were to take a random sample of humanity, wipe their memories and drop them on an alien world, capitalism would happen. Not because there’s a “system” making it happen, but because that’s just what people do.
I appreciate the recommendations. I’ll check out Pëtr Kropotkin.
I see. In that case, I think the development of money is inevitable. People will want a standardized token of value that is universally accepted. If there is no state, something like gold or bitcoin will meet that need. Something rare but commoditized and fungible will inevitably become the standard unit of account that represents value, and a free market will mean that goods and services naturally find their own price.
Why does the existence of currency presuppose a state? Let alone one that involves class dominance? People can easily trade precious metals or crypto without the existence of a state, because these things don’t need to be issued in order to represent value.
I have been thinking of completely going off Google. I have a Nextcloud server for documents and contacts and calendar. Thinking of moving mail away too. Currently I am conflicted between hosting my own email server. On searching only advice I am getting is not to do it....
apparently our great Prime has seven bins and has abandoned plans to tell us all to get seven bins in his battle against climate change. With this kind of assertive action he could get a job in any hotel....
They’re also deploying coal faster than anyone else.
I’ve heard this argument before about the efficiency of burning centrally, usually in a European context to defend running EVs on a grid powered mostly by natural gas, but not for coal.
Now I’m genuinely curious whether efficiently burning coal to power EVs is less bad for the environment than burning petrol in ICE cars. Is there any research on that?
I agree that ultimately EVs are the future, and I do drive one myself and strive to charge it on renewables whenever possible. However, in places with dirtier grids I’m not sure they’re a great idea.
They may be the biggest installer of renewable energy, but what percentage of their electricity comes from renewables? If they’re installing more coal than renewables then it’s still not better.
Figure I’d ask here, but I’m looking to set something up for email in the future, I’m looking into custom domains so that if something happens with one email account, then I have more security in mind to pick up from there as opposed to being screwed....
Well, that’s not ideal, but the oil and gas platforms have to be powered by something. They’ll exist either way, but without these turbines they’d be powered by oil and gas.
Power demand is power demand. If we get all precious about who can use our wind power, they’re not just gonna go “ok, I guess we’ll shut down these oil rigs” 🤷♂️
Biden Stands To Gain Double-Digit Political Support If Marijuana Is Rescheduled, Poll Of Likely Voters Shows (www.marijuanamoment.net)
Keir Starmer considers scaling back Labour’s £28bn green plans (www.theguardian.com)
Labour is considering scaling back ambitious plans to borrow £28bn a year to invest in green jobs and industry amid fears the Conservatives will use the policy as a central line of attack in the general election campaign....
If you had a one-way ticket to Jan 1, 1999 that departs on Jan 1, 2024, and you are allowed to bring whatever fits into a backpack with you, what would you bring to use to take over the world, and how would you use it?
Assume that the future can change based on your actions, so any historical information that you bring along with you from the intervening 25 years may quickly drift out of the new realities history....
Canadian Carbon tax exemption on home heating oil sets climate policies back, advocates say (www.cbc.ca)
Democrats unveil 'most comprehensive plan ever' to address plastics problem (grist.org)
Well, this is something! (files.mastodon.social)
Meanwhile in Germany:https://feddit.de/pictrs/image/18874a11-e448-4696-8ee7-28b87e2851d2.jpeg
How I (US) make tea when my British friend comes over to visit (feddit.uk)
Correct me if I got anything wrong, TA!
White House asks Congress for $106 billion for Ukraine and Israel wars (www.reuters.com)
Where do you fall politically?
I’m hoping this doesn’t start a fight, I’m just curious what the political orientation is of this community. I grew up in a liberal (in the American sense) family, and I identify now as a socialist, though a lot of the liberalism I grew up in has stuck with me, like interest in LGBTQ and women’s rights, environmentalism,...
Do any of us host their own email?
I have been thinking of completely going off Google. I have a Nextcloud server for documents and contacts and calendar. Thinking of moving mail away too. Currently I am conflicted between hosting my own email server. On searching only advice I am getting is not to do it....
seven bins? that can fuck right off. how many bins have you got?
apparently our great Prime has seven bins and has abandoned plans to tell us all to get seven bins in his battle against climate change. With this kind of assertive action he could get a job in any hotel....
You're a Dream of the Universe (According to Science) | Kurzgesagt - In a Nutshell (www.youtube.com)
Fossil fuels' share in EU power mix at lowest level since records began -report (www.reuters.com)
China Reaches Peak Gasoline in Milestone for Electric Vehicles (www.bloomberg.com)
Best solutions for email?
Figure I’d ask here, but I’m looking to set something up for email in the future, I’m looking into custom domains so that if something happens with one email account, then I have more security in mind to pick up from there as opposed to being screwed....
Norway: World’s biggest floating wind farm will power oil and gas platforms (www.euronews.com)
cross-posted from: lemmy.zip/post/1892428...