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Comment by tareqak | Hacker News Reader

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tareqak·

https://twitter.com/IlariKaila/status/1600120645211201536

Ilari Kaila

@IlariKaila

Replying to

@paulg

Why did you delete this banger?

Paul Graham

@paulg

Replying to

@IlariKaila

I forgot that mentioning Marx attracts angry fools. Since I could make my point without mentioning him, I just reposted it without.

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Actually Marx talked a lot about automation. Marx's prediction was this would lead to a lower rate of profit for invested capital which - mainstream establishment sources say is what has been happening.

Yes I have no idea why Paul would say this. I guess he realised he was wrong and thus he deleted it, but he won’t admit that. So many people online who make fun of Marx haven’t read any of Capital

I always find this take that innovation wouldn’t happen in a non-capitalist society very strange, as if humanity hadn’t produced countless innovations before modern constructs like the corporation existed.

I also think its incredulous to focus on one (admittedly, very) positive outcome of capitalism without acknowledging its externalities, like pollution, inequality, etc. I suppose pg believes the current system will lead to a post-scarcity society in which none of those exist. Perhaps that’s true, but I hope the planet survives long enough to get there.

It's not like a socialist country could invent things like a satellite, and be the society that figures out how to send a man into space, probes to the moon and other planets - oh yaa, a socialist country is the first country to figure out those things.

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