Re:Melancholy of obsolete futures: on Soviet Brutalism
by m0llusk on Wednesday August 26, 2020 @01:47PM
(#24285070)
You are comparing smart phones and the development of modern industry and infrastructure with Stalin's purges and the Great Terror of 1936-1938. Results and body counts matter. Not entirely bloodless, indeed.
Re:Melancholy of obsolete futures: on Soviet Brutalism
by gridlockd on Wednesday August 26, 2020 @01:37PM
(#24284927)
The difference is that, unless they have been scammed by traffickers, every one of these workers chose that fate over a worse fate.
If you're buying a phone, or some produce, or pick something out of a shelf, you don't have blood on your hands, you have contributed to someone's life being a little better than it would otherwise have been.
Re:Melancholy of obsolete futures: on Soviet Brutalism
by andrepd on Wednesday August 26, 2020 @01:48PM
(#24285076)
There's no talk of "choice" when, as you admit it, the choice is between near-slavery or death.
Re:Melancholy of obsolete futures: on Soviet Brutalism
by wpurvis on Wednesday August 26, 2020 @02:11PM
(#24285373)
Exactly. Work or die isn't a choice, its a threat.
Of course, some follies had higher human cost than others, but our comfortable lives are not entirely bloodless.