Check out "Atlas Shrugged" for an example of Communist

Post #51,126 by Arkadiy 9/9/02 2:10:56 PM Reply	Check out "Atlas Shrugged" for an example of Communist Community. In short, it would only work if a) cost of production of _everything_ would drop to 0 (What Marx expected. Will never happen. If all things are free, people will _invent_ costly luxuries. And lust after them) or b) all people have the same level of contribution. Nope, not happenning either. We have only 2 things to worry about: That things will never get back to normal, and that they already have.
Post #51,154 by Ashton 9/9/02 8:03:53 PM Reply	Such as we are the 'inventing of luxuries' seems apt. That individuals would ever strive to differentiate selves as an 'individual' - is what I'd call the parent process, though. Postulating a more mature stage of development, I see no inherent reason why the lust to accumulate, 'the competition to outconsume others' of today - is some inescapable human tendency; I believe it is learned behaviour, modified (in the US by the Puritanism and by early illusions/models of John Wayne rugged asocial individualism, yada yada). But such as we are - of course John Galt's ideas weren't practicable (leaving aide all the mis-applications of Rand's entire schtik, since). Ditto Marx, Trotsky et al. 'Cost of production' and a bevy of other concepts from Mr. Keynes, as well as the entire Machiavellian mindset - are not IMhO Revealed Truth about humans either, merely efforts to codify that which we always seem to do. Such as we currently are. Ashton
Post #51,164 by Arkadiy 9/9/02 9:47:58 PM Reply	Even before we go inventing luxuries, we need to make the cost of all existing products to be 0. That's not happening anytime soon. Rand's stuff is unpractical because she never asked the most important question: where do Galt's opponents come from in such numbers? We have only 2 things to worry about: That things will never get back to normal, and that they already have.

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