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Re:Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile... by waffletower on Monday March 16, 2026 @05:36PM (#47405254)
I do take Adam Smith out of context, that is the precise point -- the invisible hand of self-interest is the salient idea that has endured and shaped modern Hypercapitalism. It doesn't matter if he is rolling in his grave at audio frequencies due to my and, more importantly, society's alleged misappropriation of his work and misunderstanding of his many moral considerations. He was effectively soundbited centuries ago and we are still struggling to manage the implications. Saying he was a good guy makes it more difficult to fix the problem.
Re:Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile... by WillPostForFood on Monday March 16, 2026 @07:30PM (#47406509)
Maybe you have a valid point here, but by intentionally taking him out of context, it perpetuates the misunderstanding. We'd be better off actually understanding Smith, reading Smith, and grappling with limitations of the invisible hand. Otherwise it is just an exercise in nihilism and blowing everything up.
Re:Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile... by cortesoft on Monday March 16, 2026 @06:42PM (#47405995)
It's not about whether he is a good guy or not, it is about what we can learn from his writings.

I know he is always associated with the 'invisible hand of the market' idea, but a lot of his writings were about the PROBLEMS that arise because of this invisible hand. He had a lot of good insights into what we have to be careful of when the free market does what it does. We should actually take some of those lessons to shape policy to protect us from the invisible hand.

Re:Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile... by waffletower on Monday March 16, 2026 @07:01PM (#47406229)
Noam Chomsky explains (I won't say 'apologizes for') Adam Smith frequently, but I think it is more important to allow modern, living thinkers space and consideration to reflect upon what is happening in our time, rather than relying excessively on canonical figures who didn't have our contemporary context available in their writings. Sadly there is plenty of timelessness, problems recognized in 1776 that still remain unsolved, but too many use the weight and respect for Adam Smith disingenuously to advocate for insane market policies.
Re:Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile... by shermantanktop on Monday March 16, 2026 @05:49PM (#47405414)
Much like Marx, who had a lot of very insightful observations.

Whether what was done in his name is or isn't directly attributable to his writings is somewhat academic. That has taken on a life of its own, and overshadowed all his other ideas.

It has also certainly made talking about class in America very difficult.

Re:Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile... by waffletower on Monday March 16, 2026 @06:19PM (#47405766)
Very good comparison. I do have more respect for Marx, the modern concept of life/work balance owes much to his concept of estranged labor ("Life itself appears only as a means to life"), as I haven't had to live in a society afflicted by his excesses and misappropriations, unlike the case of Adam Smith.
Re:Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile... by lordnacho on Monday March 16, 2026 @06:33PM (#47405919)
Adam Smith mentions something similar as well. He talks about how the worker's attachment to the work is different when he's working in a super specialised part of a production process rather than making the whole product like an artisan.
Re:Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile... by WalterBright on Monday March 16, 2026 @06:37PM (#47405959)
Nobody is making you live in a free market society.
Re:Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile... by Eisenstein on Monday March 16, 2026 @06:48PM (#47406051)
Where exactly would he go to escape it?
Re:Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile... by tim333 on Monday March 16, 2026 @08:16PM (#47406899)
The main non free market societies are communist like North Korea, or tribal people say in the Amazon who don't have markets. Neither have very high standards of living.

A better compromise might be scandinavian countries but Adam Smith would probably have approved of those.

Re:Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile... by waffletower on Monday March 16, 2026 @07:10PM (#47406325)
Earth: Love it or leave it.
Re:Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile... by WalterBright on Monday March 16, 2026 @06:59PM (#47406205)
Cuba
Re:Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile... by viccis on Monday March 16, 2026 @08:06PM (#47406812)
>Trump Says He Will Have the ‘Honor’ of ‘Taking Cuba’

>President Trump’s words came amid a nationwide blackout and as a top Cuban official said his country would move to open the economy to foreign investors.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/world/americas/cuba-us-fo...

Turns out you can't escape the free market societies because those societies can't tolerate others.

Re:Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile... by fc417fc802 on Monday March 16, 2026 @09:26PM (#47407466)
It's strange - if we're so confident that our ideology is superior then wouldn't we welcome a small neighbor on our doorstep trying something different as a sort of experiment expected to reaffirm our views? Celebrate them the way you might a silly child, occasionally support them, all while pointing to them as an example of why we don't do what they're doing.

Unless of course we fear they might succeed.

Re:Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile... by WalterBright on Tuesday March 17, 2026 @03:52PM (#47417426)
We interfered with Cuba when they acquired nuclear missiles aimed at the US.

Cube prevents its citizens from leaving.

Re:Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile... by fc417fc802 on Wednesday March 18, 2026 @01:10AM (#47421810)
That was an awful long time ago and doesn't reflect the current situation.

> Cube prevents its citizens from leaving.

What's your point? If they suddenly changed that policy do you believe we would immediately walk back the sanctions and the oil blockade? That isn't how it looks to me.

The only way I can think to interpret current US policy is either one of petty insecurity or else an attempt at coercive commercial exploitation.

Re:Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile... by WalterBright on Wednesday March 18, 2026 @02:57AM (#47422388)
It's not a paradise if the citizens are blocked from leaving it.

Nobody is blocked from leaving the US.

Re:Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile... by fc417fc802 on Wednesday March 18, 2026 @09:41PM (#47433733)
I don't disagree but I still have no idea what your point is. What does this have to do with US policy towards them?
Re:Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile... by Eisenstein on Wednesday March 18, 2026 @02:31AM (#47422229)
You should brush up on your history and look up the Bay of Pigs.
Re:Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile... by Eisenstein on Wednesday March 18, 2026 @03:00AM (#47422405)
> Cube prevents its citizens from leaving.

Hasn't been the case for over a decade.

Re:Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile... by WalterBright on Tuesday March 17, 2026 @03:49PM (#47417370)
Free market countries build walls to keep people out, socialist countries build walls to keep their citizens from fleeing.
Re:Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile... by thaumasiotes on Monday March 16, 2026 @06:59PM (#47406209)
North Sentinel Island.

Assuming he can get past immigration.

Re:Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile... by arduanika on Monday March 16, 2026 @10:00PM (#47407684)
Now we're discussing "audio frequencies"? My gosh, you really are off the deep end, aren't you.

If you want to effect change, then state your critique precisely, or not at all. Your looney top-level comment has derailed what should be a discussion of how to reign in Polymarket, because you've overstated your case, messed up your references to authority, and apparently you've slandered Aleister f*cking Crowley, too, such that his defenders are arguing about him here, instead of about how to reign in Polymarket.

When you make your side appear detached from all sense and reason, you are functionally no better than controlled opposition.