Re:The Spaceballs Argument for Unconditional Basic Income
by EricE on Wednesday January 11, 2023 @03:45PM
(#34344463)
>and every one had access to the things they needed
right up until their neighbors waltzed over and took it from them. Talk about rose colored glasses!
Re:The Spaceballs Argument for Unconditional Basic Income
by dbingham on Wednesday January 11, 2023 @05:25PM
(#34345911)
Sure, there was conflict between societies. But again, this is an exaggerated view of just how much there was. I haven't seen many studies quantifying it. But given the sheer scale of damage conflicts today are capable of generating, I'm not sure that the total danger of conflict to any individual would have been that much greater to any individual then than now. I think we've definitely made gains in peace and security, but I also think those gains are frequently drastically exaggerated.
My point isn't that the past was some rose colored time. Only that false assumptions about human nature are frequently used justify deeply harmful policies and institutions. And that many people speak about how humans behaved in "that past" with very little actual anthropological or historical knowledge.
Re:The Spaceballs Argument for Unconditional Basic Income
by bmmayer1 on Thursday January 12, 2023 @12:27PM
(#34357254)
> I'm not sure that the total danger of conflict to any individual would have been that much greater to any individual then than now
It is, in fact, much safer to be alive today than any other point in history. And a much lower chance of dying from violence due to other humans.
In fact there's a whole book about this if you're interested: https://www.amazon.com/Better-Angels-Our-Nature-Violence/dp/...
The article wasn't arguing that a paradise of communal resource sharing with out limitations has ever existed. It was arguing that property wasn't the limitation and that people had access to the basics they needed to survive. And there are many, many examples of societies that existed where resources were communally shared and every one had access to the things they needed. Many of which involved various methods of communal decision making as well.
This idea that humanity's state of nature is barbarous, brutal competition is an a historical myth that has been used to justify some of the worst abuses of the powerful.