Justin Coulston Hi Justin, thanks for your response. Please see below my thoughts:

This is an interesting take on the issue. I hear often how capitalism is the devil, and to a degree that’s true. However, I think what I may have missed in this article is motivation. I’m an engineer (EE and SE) but I wouldn’t be if I wasn’t paid. I have to support my family and feed my kids. So, if it’s not for profit (which in principle sounds nice) how do we feed our families.

Worker co-ops give the employees ownership of the company while drawing salary. It is market socialism essentially. It is sharing the worth of the company, and returning surplus value to the employees. People would actually be much better off. Also keep in mind that generally worker co-ops, or economic democracy may co-exist with other programs, such as education etc. where in parents are not forced to fish obscenely high tuition for an investment such as education of the future (which under today’s society, is a cost). Imagine if owners who are decision makers of a company were neighbors, friends, community members, as opposed to alien agents like bezos or other hoarders of wealth who might as well be on Mars and cannot be appealed to. In this way, worker co-ops, the engines of production would serve society, price products accordingly because they themselves would double up as customers as well.

Yes, it could be government subsidized and such but eventually someone is making money or investing. Who is it? Communes don’t work due to human nature. But capitalism does provide this funding and is the primary reason we have technology to begin with. There are exceptions with things like open source products but profit doesn’t necessarily mean cash. It can take a lot of forms (knowledge, service, etc)

Unfortunately, this is not true. All our technologies originate from the state, then with immense state subsidies for corporations, or just privatizing technologies by selling outputs of public investments for pennies on the dollar to a small number of people, profits are privatized and risks/costs are socialized. Another avenues of funding is credit unions and state banks, where financing can also be democratized. These are not theoretical things. See communities in OH, or Mondragon in Spain. I have covered more details here about the first point.

Every time I hear the “Down with Capitalism” chant by people, my first reaction is how. The why is easy but how without throwing everyone into poverty or stopping technological growth?

The article I linked above should help. I argue the contrary, people get tossed into poverty because of the weath extractive mechanism of capitalism, when so much abundance produced is not distributed correctly. Also, the argument is against tyranny. Any system that crushes democracy, both political and economic — feudalism, capitalism, facism, authoritarian communism — must be opposed and changed. The argument you make could be used to seed doubt about transitioning to capitalism from feudalism (anachronistic example). You keep hearing about going against capitalism because that is our system today. No point critiquing and changing feudalism.

Although I agree with the counsel’s and such, they have limited utility for everyday engineers. And worse, the assumption that all engineers are good is categorically false.

This is not counting on the goodness of people. It is a call to reconfigure our political and economic system so that a fairer system is created and unfair practices are systemically squashed; a system that does not reward the psychopaths.

In the end, human nature is what you’re wanting to fix. Or wanting to control. Something would have to give right? Freedom? No more immoral rich dudes?

This claim about human nature, which is very sparsely understood anyway, is very pseudo-scientific I think. When one makes the claim, well human nature is just going to bend towards evil, and follow orders from tyrants etc, it is ignoring thousands of precedents where in people in the millions banded together, opposed tyranny and better the world. Would your version of human nature permit the American Revolution? Ending African slavery in the US? Emancipation of women (long way to go)? Abolishing child labor so kids can go to school instead of serving a capitalist in a coal mine? No, instead I like to believe human nature seeks freedom, association and fulfilment — now if you ask me for scientific evidence for this, I cannot give it to you, just like the ones who define human nature as you do cannot either. So we are left with the only question we do have control over — what sort of political, economic and social conditions we want to create and protect to create a just and fulfilling world?

Also please note that my prescriptions (learnt from others) are frameworks, which are valid I think, ultimately it is what we will all create democratically that will determine the specifics of the system.

Don’t know… Either way, enjoyed the read. Thanks for putting it up!

Hope it was of some value to you