Woods and everyone. Half my answer:
Chris:
What would be a good word for wanting to build a extensive welfare state
with
"radical" democracy? Because that is really what I am all about, I want to
make
democracy work by making it possible for people to understand what it is.
To give them the time and the means to understand it. That's what a
welfare
state is Good for. So that people can feel safe and be able to develop
themselves
in whatever way they want. That way we can work towards a society where
people needn't be so bound by social values, because they are liberated by
being born into a society where realizing your potential and going after
Quality
is possible without the constant fear of failing and ending up on the
streets or
something like that.
woods:
There is a lot in this. If I have the intellectual patterns to
continue, then I
wouldn't mind parsing this. I understand the fear aspect, but I wonder if
it is really about not having a safety net and this holds people back?
Are
you suggesting this?
Chis:
I'm suggesting that society today is made up so that intellectual values
always comes secondary, because the capitalist system puts focus on social
level values. You are born into this society, and as you grow up you realise
that unless you can get some money, you really can't do anything. For you to
"make it" in that way is essential. You may have all kinds of goals in life,
but your chances of pursuing them is determined by if you can afford it. In
essence, if you value intellectual Good, before you can explore that you
must gain high social value, and the chances of that may be small, because
if what you value is knowledge within a certain area, you will be good at
understanding that, but that may not necessarily translate into social
value - I.e. you may not be able to make money out of it very quickly, and
if you can't make money out of it, your chances of exploring that is very
slim.
FIRST you need to make sure you can make some money, and THEN you can
explore you potential .Some people are lucky, and what they value happens to
be something you can make money out of, but that's far from everyone. And
this limits humanity.
A welfare state, kind of like the one we used to have over here, should
among other things make sure that when you are born and grow up, you are
free to pursuit your potential, no matter what material conditions you have.
And it is to make sure that if what you value is certain knowledge, you get
to explore that, even if that knowledge doesn't immediately translate into
monetary profits. That's maximising humanities recourses. You never know
when me might need that knowledge that perhaps isn't all that profitable
today.
THAT'S MY POINT! What is profitable controls what knowledge we can develop,
AND THAT IS IMMORAL - because that you can make money out of it, most of the
time that only means that it has high social value.
So how does one change that? What do you think?
To be continued -
Chris
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