- #1
NoahAfrican
Are the social sciences unbound by the physical sciences? Take the laws of Thermodynamics that breaks the universe down to matter and energy. Those laws are predicated upon a closed or virtual closed system. Thus, how can these physical laws not ultimately affect human social existence? I believe that the answer is that the physical laws govern human social existence, however, it is very dependent upon the initial conditions, which makes human social behavior relatively unpredictable.
However chaotic human behavior may be, it is still bound by universal laws. Again, if one takes the first law of thermodynamics, which essentially states that energy is never lost nor created, but rather a constant. More usable energy cannot be returned than the usable energy put in. The popular statement that summarizes this law is: “you cannot win”. The Second law of thermodynamics deals with the degrading of usable energy (entropy), which essentially says that not only can you not get more usable energy out from what was put in, you actually get less. Thus, you lose.
In light of this, how does one reconcile the concept of PROFIT, which is essentially getting more out of something than that which was put in? Profit is the pillar motive of the capitalistic economic system. But how is profit created when it essentially defies the laws of nature?
Profit says that you can win… but how?
If one takes a snapshot of a point in time, one can see the closed system that exists between, workers, owners and customers, each contributing energies in the form of work, thoughts or stored vouchers from past expenditure of energy (money). Now, it is this triangular closed system that is the most controlling factor in the creation of economic profit. It tantamount to an energy pot luck (A meal at which each guest brings food that is then shared by all), where the one which throws the party gets to have more than he or she supplied. Now, if the one throwing the party gets more than he or she put in, then it logically follows that the other participants are getting less back from the energy that they put in.
What profit is in reality is nothing more than the reallocation and disproportional redistribution of energy from one or more entities to another. Profit is what motivated slavery. They need the energy of workers, but planters did not want to pay them commiserate with their energy expenditures, because it would have made the system unprofitable for the planters. Thus, they took away the freedom of the people and forced them to work without pay. The planters could not control the customers and force them to buy a product at a certain price. Thus, the controlling factor was labor, which was exploited to maximize profits. Consequently, the profit of planters came as a direct proportional loss to the workers/slaves.
This is what I term seesaw economics. It manifest via an entity lifting itself up by placing the weight of exploitation upon another entity. There is no net gain to humanity, only the unequal distribution and allocation of the resultant of energy expenditure. This, in turn leads to an unequal distribution of wealth and is the leading cause of the social class dichotomies.
Capitalism is really a Trojan horse that has exploitation (or the unequal exchanges between humans) at its core. It is the most productive economic system…bar none. However, everything is a trade off and thus capitalism comes with a cost. That cost is those who end up losing as a result of others winning. The fact that people voluntarily enter into these unequal exchanges is what makes the system seem not exploitive. However, when one takes away most other options, then one must volunteer for what’s available, when trying to earn a living and survive.
Take for example a tribesman living in the Brazilian rainforest. He is not poor. He lives off the forest and land and has all his needs meet by the forest. Then a developer comes and buys the land from the government. The tribesman is now without means of survival. Thus, he must volunteer into the system as a worker to earn income to buy food, clothing and shelter. That becomes his only option and makes him ripe for exploitation by those owners of businesses looking to maximize profit via cheap labor. Once people land is taken and owned, people must volunteer into the system for their survival
However chaotic human behavior may be, it is still bound by universal laws. Again, if one takes the first law of thermodynamics, which essentially states that energy is never lost nor created, but rather a constant. More usable energy cannot be returned than the usable energy put in. The popular statement that summarizes this law is: “you cannot win”. The Second law of thermodynamics deals with the degrading of usable energy (entropy), which essentially says that not only can you not get more usable energy out from what was put in, you actually get less. Thus, you lose.
In light of this, how does one reconcile the concept of PROFIT, which is essentially getting more out of something than that which was put in? Profit is the pillar motive of the capitalistic economic system. But how is profit created when it essentially defies the laws of nature?
Profit says that you can win… but how?
If one takes a snapshot of a point in time, one can see the closed system that exists between, workers, owners and customers, each contributing energies in the form of work, thoughts or stored vouchers from past expenditure of energy (money). Now, it is this triangular closed system that is the most controlling factor in the creation of economic profit. It tantamount to an energy pot luck (A meal at which each guest brings food that is then shared by all), where the one which throws the party gets to have more than he or she supplied. Now, if the one throwing the party gets more than he or she put in, then it logically follows that the other participants are getting less back from the energy that they put in.
What profit is in reality is nothing more than the reallocation and disproportional redistribution of energy from one or more entities to another. Profit is what motivated slavery. They need the energy of workers, but planters did not want to pay them commiserate with their energy expenditures, because it would have made the system unprofitable for the planters. Thus, they took away the freedom of the people and forced them to work without pay. The planters could not control the customers and force them to buy a product at a certain price. Thus, the controlling factor was labor, which was exploited to maximize profits. Consequently, the profit of planters came as a direct proportional loss to the workers/slaves.
This is what I term seesaw economics. It manifest via an entity lifting itself up by placing the weight of exploitation upon another entity. There is no net gain to humanity, only the unequal distribution and allocation of the resultant of energy expenditure. This, in turn leads to an unequal distribution of wealth and is the leading cause of the social class dichotomies.
Capitalism is really a Trojan horse that has exploitation (or the unequal exchanges between humans) at its core. It is the most productive economic system…bar none. However, everything is a trade off and thus capitalism comes with a cost. That cost is those who end up losing as a result of others winning. The fact that people voluntarily enter into these unequal exchanges is what makes the system seem not exploitive. However, when one takes away most other options, then one must volunteer for what’s available, when trying to earn a living and survive.
Take for example a tribesman living in the Brazilian rainforest. He is not poor. He lives off the forest and land and has all his needs meet by the forest. Then a developer comes and buys the land from the government. The tribesman is now without means of survival. Thus, he must volunteer into the system as a worker to earn income to buy food, clothing and shelter. That becomes his only option and makes him ripe for exploitation by those owners of businesses looking to maximize profit via cheap labor. Once people land is taken and owned, people must volunteer into the system for their survival
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