Page 1 of 1

20150724 New Book Post Capitalism

PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 3:55 pm
by tahanson43206
First, for Dr. Dartnell: Please create a category for members of the forum to contribute book titles.

Second, I just read a lengthy commentary on a new book about transition from capitalism to something else.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/j ... lism-begun

The commentary's author mentions Karl Marx has having envisioned an information based society, but (of course) he was decades ahead of the present time.

I see in this discussion the potential for reducing the scope of the problem Dr. Dartnell is addressing, which (as I understand it) is the vulnerability of the current networked civilization to any of a large number of potential failure modes. A way to reduce the scope of disaster is to reduce the size of communities which are interdependent. That goal is entirely consistent with the similar goal of designing communities which can exist comfortably in locations away from Earth, including free flying habitats in addition to planets or moons.

The millions of displaced people on Earth today are a source of potential build-sites for self-sufficient communities.

I don't see anything in the existing market system capable of taking advantage of the opportunities the refugees represent.

(th)

Re: 20150724 New Book Post Capitalism

PostPosted: Sun Jul 26, 2015 8:33 am
by Maurice Goldsmith
A colleague sent me that link - it's full of significant ideas.

I was interested to read how Karl Marx was so far ahead of his time. Another paragraph that struck me, given the economic problems we're having here in Europe, is:

Even now many people fail to grasp the true meaning of the word “austerity”. Austerity is not eight years of spending cuts, as in the UK, or even the social catastrophe inflicted on Greece. It means driving the wages, social wages and living standards in the west down for decades until they meet those of the middle class in China and India on the way up.


Maurice

Re: 20150724 New Book Post Capitalism

PostPosted: Sun Jul 26, 2015 10:15 am
by germanforestgump
Many thanks for this interesting book link!
I was searching if there is a german translation available, but until now it seems to exist not.
I found only a translation of the first part of the guardian summary:
https://www.scnews.info/das-ende-des-ka ... -begonnen/

Maybe i could send askings to german book providers to motivate them to buy the german copyright?
First ask Allen Lane wether he already sold it?

Actually i read Naomi Klein´s "Kapitalism vs. Klimate" in german translation.
A very shocking but encouraging book!