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Re:Why doesn't capitalism produce good kettles? by jacknews on Saturday March 13, 2021 @04:45AM (#26445380)
Yes it's not the fault of capitalism as such (private ownership of the means of production for private profit), but of market-based economies.

They deliver a combination of what producers want to produce, and what people want to buy (measured by what they actually buy), not necessarily what people need or is good for them. Just look at the industrial food complex.

Re:Why doesn't capitalism produce good kettles? by kubanczyk on Saturday March 13, 2021 @04:58AM (#26445449)
You blame market as a mechanism. I blame people.

Thought experiment: mechanism does not exist anymore. Would people still want to click nonsensical kettles on their screens and not care about vendor's reputation?

Thus my answer is education, education, education.

Re:Why doesn't capitalism produce good kettles? by jacknews on Saturday March 13, 2021 @07:03AM (#26446019)
I would argue civilization is a combination of educating people, and improving the environment to suit human needs.

I don't believe raw market mechanisms alone are suitable to serve human needs.

Re:Why doesn't capitalism produce good kettles? by Turing_Machine on Saturday March 13, 2021 @11:35AM (#26447655)
> not necessarily what people need or is good for them

Who gets to decide what people "need" or what is "good for them"?

Re:Why doesn't capitalism produce good kettles? by jacknews on Saturday March 13, 2021 @11:02PM (#26452698)
There you go putting ideas in my mouth.

I did not say that someone should assume authority and dictate what people need or want. Just that raw free markets with purely economic/financial incentives fail at the task.

But nutrition science would be good place to find some answers to the 'need' question for food.

Re:Why doesn't capitalism produce good kettles? by Turing_Machine on Sunday March 14, 2021 @01:53PM (#26457214)
> I did not say that someone should assume authority and dictate what people need or want.

The very idea that there is any sort of universal standard for what people "need" or what is "good for them" implies such an entity.

Here's a novel thought: how about treating people as adults with their own intensional stances and allowing them to decide for themselves what they "need" or what is "good for them"?

You're not their parent. "Nutrition science" isn't their parent, either.