“It is impossible for capitalism to survive, primarily because the system of capitalism needs some blood to suck. Capitalism used to be like an eagle, but now it’s more like a vulture. It used to be strong enough to go and suck anybody’s blood whether they were strong or not. But now it has become more cowardly, like the vulture, and it can only suck the blood of the helpless. As the nations of the world free themselves, the capitalism has less victims, less to suck, and it becomes weaker and weaker. It’s only a matter of time in my opinion before it will collapse completely.”
-Malcolm X
The industrial age and capitalism rose hand in hand. Many of the modern principles that society upholds in finance, government, education, and other various areas come from the industrial revolution, markets, and capitalism. For a very long time it seemed that, these truths created by human hands were going to pass the test of time. Yet, with humanity constantly changing, searching for new answers, and a world that is finite this is no longer true.
Capitalism in its current state is unsustainable. Either it will evolve with human need or it will become obsolete. There is no other way around it. As it is set up now it will not survive the 21st century. Why? There are various reasons why in my opinion this is true. I could be wrong or right, but I can only tell you what I know now. What I see is a system in peril. The end of capitalism as we know it.
Lets begin this article with the less theoretical reason why this will occur. Environment. Capitalism and modern economics base their economic models and profits theory from linear ideals/models. Last time I checked the world was a sphere. Earth is an organism and a complex system that has the ability of life. Resources that are used today petroleum; mineral, etc. have taken thousands of years to develop. Yet, our rate of consumption as a human race is absurd. This is clearly unsustainable even with renewable energy. Humanity still needs forests, biodiversity, and even valuable resources. This is not a new idea “green” movements have been preaching this for decades, but what they failed to understand is that capitalism nor western economics can adapt to this reality nor can it accept it. So raising awareness is key, but asking for money and a political voice in a system where cheap oil and money is key to the entire economic system. A system that values “profit” over human value or life was always on a path to self-destruction. These movements did not understand that environmental waste is part of the current system and that it was never going to succeed in the end. The power structure was always in conflict for the necessary awareness and change. Since the public was satisfied with cheap oil, middle class standards, and escapism, they did not bother with this relevant truth.
Humans live in a circular world and thus our economy should be connected with the world around us along with the living organisms that live in it. Humanity needs to respect life. Capitalism does not respect life at least not in its current format. If you go to New York City and see the streets and subways filled with trash one would know what I am speaking about.This system perpetuates systematic waste and it has a built in necessity to constantly need to build and grow the economy. Exponential growth on a finite world is not possible. Capitalism is on a collision course against reality and nature itself.
Next reason is technological displacement. People think of it as science fiction and imagination. This may be true, but one way or another it is the future and how we adapt to it is the better question to ask. New dilemmas will rise with the new technologies, but human innovation has always had its intended consequences and unintended consequences. Technology is really just an extension of humanity and that is why we should not fear it, but discuss the philosophical and ethical implications of technology. Intellectual discussion and knowledge is needed and necessary for a better society. I do not just mean “college degrees” I mean true knowledge (I will get into that subject matter in a different post). Displacement of the knowledge worker and the common physical laborer will begin to occur. I do not like to predict the exact timing because I could be off by hundreds year or six months, but I do believe we have already seen the infant stages of these types of technologies; 3-D printing, peer to peer technologies, sophisticated software application, and supercomputers such as IBM’s Watson. Still early in the embryonic stage, but humanity is getting there and what was once thought impossible is possible. As humans we are often reluctant to change especially when it comes to attack our own way of life or existence. Humanity is reaching a new critical point.
Technology will begin the new pyridine shift and as it solves the problems of the past it will create the challenges of the future. I will not say we have not reached the end, but only a new beginning. The next step in human evolution is near. It will be interesting to see how humanity reacts to these changes and challenges. Not only on an economic or technological scale, but also on the social and political level as well because many of the ideals and power structures of today will be challenged. These changes will occur because of the two main reasons stated.
I will be further developing these ideas in later articles.
“The Internet isn’t free. It just has an economy that makes no sense to capitalism.”
-Brad Shapcott
retributionisblind 