#labor value

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

[thoughtportal]

Dude who makes $250 million a year tells people should work for the love of it

[republikkkanorcs]

[liberalsarecool]

Capitalism was NEVER noble.

[kafkasapartment]

The Floor Scrapers, 1875.

Gustave Caillebotte. Oil on canvas.

[sizzlingsandwichperfection-blog]

john????? is that you??

Greetings, cat emerging from a cloudy sky. Your pfp reminds me of how when we look up at a cloudy sky, there is a whole universe above the clouds that we do not see, which for all I know might include adorable cats peeking up out of the clouds.

I am just a coffee company that donates its profit to charity. But every brand on the Internet has some poor sap running their social media accounts, and the poor sap who runs this one is named John Green.

[queerism1969]

[ohnoitstbskyen]

The Robot That Makes Houses For Free

I have built a robot which creates new houses entirely for free. It's an amazing new innovation, a huge leap forward in robotics and it's going to solve homelessness, probably.

The way it works is the robot goes around to hundreds or thousands of other houses all over the town, and rips out the construction materials it needs from each of them.

But don't worry! It only rips tiny little pieces out of each house, completely insignificant bits which they would never miss, and then it makes this entirely new house for free out of all the little bits and pieces it took. Free houses! How amazing is that!

You just type into the computer what kind of house you want, what style of architecture, how many floors, what kind of floor plan, and it'll just do it - like magic! Out of nothing! For free! What amazing technology, it's incredible what we can do with modern advancements.

Anyway, this recent plague of houses collapsing is really worrying. Apparently they're falling down because they're being slowly worn away by some kind of mysterious erosion? Huh, that's weird.

But it's kind of a blessing, really, because it means now there's a huge market for new houses, so we're going to build even more robots to make those houses, and so long as the traditional old construction companies keep making new houses for us to sample, we can make new houses totally for free forever!

Wait, what do you mean the constant supply of free houses is crashing the market and driving them all out of business?

[rejectingrepublicans]

[steveyockey]

I think the main thing I want the “but if they’re just pouring me coffee or putting a croissant in a bag do I REALLY need to tip them” crowd to get is that you can do whatever the fuck you want but I always tip fellow food service people and everyone else I know in the industry does the same. the call is yours I just want to be clear that we look out for each other in a way you apparently can’t fathom

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

[thoughtportal]

[racefortheironthrone]

What do you think about the labor theory of value?

Oh, this is going to get a lot of orthodox Marxists mad at me...

Contrary to Marx's whole thing about socialism being a scientific, materialist analysis rather than an ideology mom, I think the labor theory of value only makes sense as a normative claim, rather than an empirical one. Labor has an inarguable moral claim to the wealth it creates, certainly one that is superior to the claims of capital, although one could quibble in a Georgist sort of way about the role that the community at large (as opposed to the direct producers) play in creating value.

But as a matter of empirical fact, labor is merely one source of value, arguably the largest source of value, but it is not the only source of value and it takes very little legal pad brainstorming to come up with a bunch of sources of value that have nothing to do with labor. Many of the best minds of Marxist economists of many generations were driven mad by futile attempts to square this circle, to no avail.

This is why I am so ardently a believer in revisionism in the spirit of Eduard Bernstein. If socialism is to be "scientific," a big part of that has to come from treating the sacred texts as something that has to be constantly questioned and put through rigorous experimental tests, rather than holy writ. Marx and Engels were not saints nor prophets - they were two 19th century dudes trying their best with the ideas they had to hand, and they made tons of mistakes and got stuff wrong all the time, and socialism will only prosper from admitting that.

[redheadedfailgirl]

I just had a riveting discussion with a self proclaimed anarcho-capitalist at work, whose opinions included:

Tipping is bad because 'contracts with your employer are voluntary and they can leave if they're not paid enough.' He will still tip if he thinks his wife is watching

If you're stuck inside a torture chamber with an apple you can bite every ten seconds that sends you to paradise for a year, it is illogical to bite the apple and humanity is broken for thinking so

The ending to the good place was bad because the characters weren't being logical and there was so much shit you can do with the afterlife.

The marxist labor theory of value 'isn't true' because paintings have arbitrary value

Heidegger was an idiot

Kant was an idiot

Nietzche was an idiot

He is an anarcho-capitalist

If I don't have 100% certainty for something than I can't truly say that I know something is true, and isn't it illogical that people do that?

I have to see this man every Monday from now until I quit. We work one on one.

[republicansaredomesticterrorists]

Remember that time Trump crossed the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees picket line.

SCAB!

[thedivergentwitch]

I am honestly not understanding the amount of anger/negativity/hate that Watcher is getting for this decision.

Like, it’s not just three dudes making content —it’s a whole fucking company. They’re employing at least a couple dozen employees who all need things like fair compensation, heath insurance, retirement, etc and that costs money. That’s not even including expenses related to creating the content that they produce (travel, permits, equipment, staging, guest expenses). And to try to finance all of that while relying on ad revenue and sponsorships on a platform notorious for demonetizing creators en mass is a humongous task that many have failed to do. Even larger channels/companies struggle with this. And it also relies on an audience and general culture that refuses to suffer through either of those things by using things like ad-blockers and nitpicking sponsored content.

(That’s not to say I don’t understand it when people do, I do the same thing. But I’m not going to be a hypocrite and pretend that those decisions don’t have consequences for creators that I enjoy)

They tried to have a middle ground solution by having the Patreon content, but clearly that wasn’t enough and I don’t blame them for having made this decision.

Yes, it is disappointing that new content is going to be behind a paywall. Yes, the delivery of this news was a little off putting. Yes, this is a time where many people may not have it in their budget to pay for an additional expense.

But entertainment is a luxury. And so is expecting content creators to put their material on the internet for free (or at the very least pennies on the goddamn dollar).

Steven, Ryan, and Shane have to balance giving us, the audience, what we want and making sure they profit enough to support the people who have staked their careers and livelihoods on Watcher. And if this move means that they will be able to support their company and hopefully expand their catalog, then I’m all for it.