The idea that we are entering an era of techno-feudalism that will be worse than capitalism is chilling and controversial. We asked former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis to elucidate this idea, explain how we got here, and map out some alternatives.

  • CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    29
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    9 months ago

    Capitalism isn’t a form of government the way democratic socialism is? But to your point, even Adam Smith realized the problems with a legal and governmental system that is controlled by corporations to be a terrible idea. He was well aware that profit motives without limit leads to mistreatment of individuals.

    • Ashyr@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      19
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      9 months ago

      Yes, I’m not implying capitalism is a form of government. I’m saying the form of government best suited to containing the excesses of capitalism is Democratic socialism.

      • CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        9 months ago

        I’d like to think most democracies would enact some socialist policies if there was less money involved in politics… but I’m not sure what the best way to prevent that is.

        You can craft laws but the legal system is also profit driven. And you’d need some way to either prevent corruption or get the motivations to line up correctly. But I can’t think of any practical solutions that also align with freedoms.