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0 pointsduncan_bayne10y ago0 comments

Well yes it involves math, but ultimately it involves decisions by people on what to do with natural resources and consumption.

Yes. And both theory and history have shown that there is only one way to compute a chaotic system: let it run :)

That is, the only way to effectively allocate natural resources and consumption at the scale of a modern industrial economy is based upon market prices.

Austrian Economics has provided the theory of why this is so, and several large-scale experiments (including North Korea and the USSR) have demonstrated that the theory is correct.

We're starting to see countries with %20+ unemployment and simply describing that as an issue of mathematics would seem inadequate.

I didn't - or at least, I didn't mean to. What I meant to say was that socialism is fundamentally, theoretically, and practically broken.

If you're going to try to fix issues like 20% unemployment, unaffordable healthcare, horrendous pollution, and unaffordable housing, then you need to pick a mechanism that actually works :)

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TFYS10y ago

I think what you mean to say is that a planned economy is fundamentally, theoretically, and practically broken. Socialism doesn't necessarily mean a planned economy, there can be socialism with a market economy. Although I think some more economic planning is clearly necessary, just look at the environmental problems the "let it run" way of thinking has caused.

I think socialism is something that we need to transition into as our technology improves and does more work for us. What other option is there? If we don't have enough jobs for everyone, the only two options that I see are 1. We create new useless bullshit jobs just so we can continue using the current system of resource allocation, or 2. We create a system in which the means of production are at least partly owned by the society as a whole so the benefits of automation are more evenly distributed.

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