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  3. 8 billion people vs. 3000 billionaires: Who would win?

8 billion people vs. 3000 billionaires: Who would win?

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  • Z [email protected]

    The billionaires. There are many reasons, but my favorite is the Matthew effect.

    tetris11@lemmy.mlT This user is from outside of this forum
    tetris11@lemmy.mlT This user is from outside of this forum
    [email protected]
    wrote last edited by [email protected]
    #102

    Matthew effect.

    For anyone wondering, the effect describes the uncanny ability for rich people to put on red outfits and act like blind devils whilst bending the law in their favor as they bask in their own self-proclaimed peity

    Z 1 Reply Last reply
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    • U [email protected]

      Elaborate and explain

      D This user is from outside of this forum
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      wrote last edited by
      #103

      With modern drones and AI tech?

      M 1 Reply Last reply
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      • remembertheapollo_@lemmy.worldR [email protected]

        Ok, let’s look at this…

        IF billionaires were removed from the picture, what would be the result?

        There would be investment assets in various holding entities that would then be what, up for grabs? Sold off? Put in probate? Trillions in stock alone would suddenly be ownerless. How would that affect the market and the regular person’s investments?

        Multiple BoD positions and CEO positions opening up. How would those be compensated? Just make more people rich?

        Material possessions originally worth absurd sums now up for grabs to nobody who could realistically afford to use or maintain them (yachts, palatial homes, etc). Manufacturers of luxury goods would vanish (stupidly expensive watches, clothes, cars).

        How would you prevent some other greedy, power-hungry f_cks from taking up the reins and putting us right back where we started? There is no point in civilization’s history where greedy f_cks haven’t existed, so how do you prevent their grubby fingers from tipping the scales right back in favor of piling all the money and power in their corner?

        What are the unintended consequences?

        (This is NOT an argument implying we should keep billionaires, just asking realistically and pragmatically what the result would be should they no longer exist)

        T This user is from outside of this forum
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        wrote last edited by
        #104

        The correct answer is to redistribute their wealth.

        1 Reply Last reply
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        • U [email protected]

          Elaborate and explain

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          wrote last edited by
          #105

          Over 1 million Russians killed and how many tens of thousands in Gaza. 3000 would be quite easy compared to the innocent.

          Yes markets would be in shit but so what, take their wealth and distribute it. The entire financial system is made out of thin air now, everyone will be all worried to justify why not to do it but we need to do it for our civilization to grow beyond having the Poor's do all the work for the greedy pigs.

          The entire system needs to change and they won't go easy, it will be tough and bloody.

          goldholz@lemmy.blahaj.zoneG 1 Reply Last reply
          4
          • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.worksA [email protected]

            like how I sent you a list of economic theories that don't involve money

            And I responded by pointing out that all those systems which could be implemented today reduce to barter, central planning, incentiveless systems that result in social loafing, or reinventing money with extra steps (e.g. energy certificates, local currencies, etc.). The others require some significant material change to function (e.g. near universal automation).

            The people who thought that humans could fly went to work inventing things to make it true

            The vast majority of them invented things that did not make it true, and many of them died testing those inventions. I'm not saying we can't develop a moneyless society, but I don't think that's something you can flippantly say we have "the ability" to do, when our current state of development is more like Icarus than the Wright Brothers.

            I would rather those logistics be discussed in a time and place with people that were positioned to make it happen.

            That's exactly the source of my disagreement. Trivializing the work left to be done does nothing but encourage people to jump off buildings en masse with cardboard wings.

            But yes, I do believe that money is the biggest problem. I think it leads to more corruption than most other frameworks for resource allocation.

            I disagree. Central planning is extremely vulnerable to corruption, mutualism is extremely vulnerable to corruption, barter is extremely vulnerable to corruption, none of the alternatives listed prevent black market currencies, which are extremely vulnerable to corruption. Yes, money has flaws, but if none of the available alternatives are less flawed, then disposing of money accomplishes nothing of importance.

            The effort still required to make any alternative viable cannot be trivialized. The flaws of alternatives cannot be trivialized. It's not enough to have an idea, that idea actually has to work in the real world. I have the same goal as your, but trivializing the difficulties involved does not help.

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            J This user is from outside of this forum
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            wrote last edited by
            #106

            We have to decide we want to do it before we can figure out how to do it. If we allow the current trend to continue, we'll never get the opportunity to try out any of those alternatives. There is a definitive plan to live in a stateless classless moneyless society, it's called socialism. It has an express goal of moving beyond a moneyed system. Focusing on how long and complicated the path could be is a great way to keep people disinterested in making any change whatsoever. I'm not saying you need to hide that part of it, but the way to inspire change is by keeping focus on what the goal is, and making it seem like it's possible because it is.

            Also it's very easy to just say "____ is extremely vulnerable to corruption" to dismiss the whole idea, but you're also just doing the same generalization I did but in a negative direction. Well money is extremely vulnerable to corruption and we have more evidence of that than most any other system.

            agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.worksA 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • J [email protected]

              We have to decide we want to do it before we can figure out how to do it. If we allow the current trend to continue, we'll never get the opportunity to try out any of those alternatives. There is a definitive plan to live in a stateless classless moneyless society, it's called socialism. It has an express goal of moving beyond a moneyed system. Focusing on how long and complicated the path could be is a great way to keep people disinterested in making any change whatsoever. I'm not saying you need to hide that part of it, but the way to inspire change is by keeping focus on what the goal is, and making it seem like it's possible because it is.

              Also it's very easy to just say "____ is extremely vulnerable to corruption" to dismiss the whole idea, but you're also just doing the same generalization I did but in a negative direction. Well money is extremely vulnerable to corruption and we have more evidence of that than most any other system.

              agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.worksA This user is from outside of this forum
              agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.worksA This user is from outside of this forum
              [email protected]
              wrote last edited by
              #107

              We have to decide we want to do it before we can figure out how to do it.

              Agreed. But that's "should" language, not "can" language.

              There is a definitive plan to live in a stateless classless moneyless society, it's called socialism.

              The last time something called socialism got widespread, it too succumbed to horrible corruption.

              Focusing on how long and complicated the path could be is a great way to keep people disinterested in making any change whatsoever.

              Ignoring how long and complicated the path to aircraft could be is a great way to get people jumping off buildings with cardboard wings.

              I'm not saying you need to hide that part of it, but the way to inspire change is by keeping focus on what the goal is, and making it seem like it's possible because it is.

              The Incan economy isn't going to painlessly scale to a globalized society. Pretending that it's a rational alternative just makes you look foolish, which does more to hinder progress than soberly acknowledging the difficulty of the problem.

              money is extremely vulnerable to corruption

              Yes. Every system of resource and labor allocation is vulnerable to corruption. Some people are greedy, and no matter what system you devise to allocate resources and labor duties, some people will figure out how to manipulate it for personal advantage.

              J 1 Reply Last reply
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              • D [email protected]

                With modern drones and AI tech?

                M This user is from outside of this forum
                M This user is from outside of this forum
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                wrote last edited by
                #108

                I was just yesterday talking to someone about how AI drones, specifically exactly AI drones, will be a pivotal piece of technology in a way I think even beyond nukes in some sense. With a decent AI drone swarm, it's not hard to imagine a SINGLE person dominating an entire population. The dictator's purest dream - none of those pesky military generals getting uppity.

                T D 2 Replies Last reply
                0
                • V [email protected]

                  3000 billionaires because you can't convince everybody to ditch school. You can't change people. Pharaoh, Hammurabi. Those are thousands of years of genetic obedience.

                  M This user is from outside of this forum
                  M This user is from outside of this forum
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                  wrote last edited by
                  #109

                  I don't know if I like assuming that obedience is a genetically heritable trait. I've heard racists use this assumption to argue that racially Chinese people are more likely to be sneaky servile backstabbers because that's what their genetics are selected for due to their political past.

                  Controversial statement incoming: I also don't want to preemptively rule out the possibility of obedience, or anything else, being genetically heritable - even if it could lead to these uncomfortable conclusions. I think scientific studies should be done about such things to answer the questions of whether these personality traits are heritable, come what may of that knowledge. But to my relief, from the studies I've seen, personality traits heritability is on very shaky ground in most cases.

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                  • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.worksA [email protected]

                    We have to decide we want to do it before we can figure out how to do it.

                    Agreed. But that's "should" language, not "can" language.

                    There is a definitive plan to live in a stateless classless moneyless society, it's called socialism.

                    The last time something called socialism got widespread, it too succumbed to horrible corruption.

                    Focusing on how long and complicated the path could be is a great way to keep people disinterested in making any change whatsoever.

                    Ignoring how long and complicated the path to aircraft could be is a great way to get people jumping off buildings with cardboard wings.

                    I'm not saying you need to hide that part of it, but the way to inspire change is by keeping focus on what the goal is, and making it seem like it's possible because it is.

                    The Incan economy isn't going to painlessly scale to a globalized society. Pretending that it's a rational alternative just makes you look foolish, which does more to hinder progress than soberly acknowledging the difficulty of the problem.

                    money is extremely vulnerable to corruption

                    Yes. Every system of resource and labor allocation is vulnerable to corruption. Some people are greedy, and no matter what system you devise to allocate resources and labor duties, some people will figure out how to manipulate it for personal advantage.

                    J This user is from outside of this forum
                    J This user is from outside of this forum
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                    wrote last edited by
                    #110

                    You claim to want the same outcomes as me, but your method of naysaying and picking at every detail will mostly lead to people disengaging with the conversation entirely. That's actively harmful to the movement's progress.

                    agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.worksA 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • U [email protected]

                      Elaborate and explain

                      E This user is from outside of this forum
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                      wrote last edited by
                      #111

                      I belive the billionaires is currently winning

                      goldholz@lemmy.blahaj.zoneG 1 Reply Last reply
                      14
                      • M [email protected]

                        I don't, I feel like moron / stupid just doesn't cut it for idiots like this. I honestly don't know of an adjective the fully encapsulates the stupidty, childishness, and naivite of a regular person aligning with the super rich.

                        B This user is from outside of this forum
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                        wrote last edited by
                        #112

                        Republican?

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        1
                        • J [email protected]

                          You claim to want the same outcomes as me, but your method of naysaying and picking at every detail will mostly lead to people disengaging with the conversation entirely. That's actively harmful to the movement's progress.

                          agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.worksA This user is from outside of this forum
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                          wrote last edited by [email protected]
                          #113

                          Ignoring the most basic attention to detail is much worse than over-attention to detail. While they deserve consideration, optics are secondary to functionality. The most popular plan in the world is useless if it doesn't actually function.

                          Engagement is nothing without substance. You're putting the cart before the horse.

                          J 1 Reply Last reply
                          1
                          • M [email protected]

                            I was just yesterday talking to someone about how AI drones, specifically exactly AI drones, will be a pivotal piece of technology in a way I think even beyond nukes in some sense. With a decent AI drone swarm, it's not hard to imagine a SINGLE person dominating an entire population. The dictator's purest dream - none of those pesky military generals getting uppity.

                            T This user is from outside of this forum
                            T This user is from outside of this forum
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                            wrote last edited by
                            #114

                            The most successful method the wealthy have used to subvert social movements is infiltration. When a drone swarm can do that, then drone swarms will be what I worry about.

                            M 1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • T [email protected]

                              The most successful method the wealthy have used to subvert social movements is infiltration. When a drone swarm can do that, then drone swarms will be what I worry about.

                              M This user is from outside of this forum
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                              wrote last edited by
                              #115

                              homer patting Bart on the shoulder meme

                              The most successful method so far!

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • E [email protected]

                                I belive the billionaires is currently winning

                                goldholz@lemmy.blahaj.zoneG This user is from outside of this forum
                                goldholz@lemmy.blahaj.zoneG This user is from outside of this forum
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                                wrote last edited by
                                #116

                                But only because the other 8 billion let them

                                E 1 Reply Last reply
                                3
                                • X [email protected]

                                  Over 1 million Russians killed and how many tens of thousands in Gaza. 3000 would be quite easy compared to the innocent.

                                  Yes markets would be in shit but so what, take their wealth and distribute it. The entire financial system is made out of thin air now, everyone will be all worried to justify why not to do it but we need to do it for our civilization to grow beyond having the Poor's do all the work for the greedy pigs.

                                  The entire system needs to change and they won't go easy, it will be tough and bloody.

                                  goldholz@lemmy.blahaj.zoneG This user is from outside of this forum
                                  goldholz@lemmy.blahaj.zoneG This user is from outside of this forum
                                  [email protected]
                                  wrote last edited by
                                  #117

                                  The hard part isnt the toppeling of the system, it is creating a stable new one, economicly and politicly. Think about the millions of indoctrinated people in all corners of the world that are fuled by hate towards a none existing enemy. Getting those in, will be hard. Especially if they are deep into conspiricy

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                                  • goldholz@lemmy.blahaj.zoneG [email protected]

                                    But only because the other 8 billion let them

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                                    wrote last edited by
                                    #118

                                    Yeah, and?

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    4
                                    • M [email protected]

                                      I was just yesterday talking to someone about how AI drones, specifically exactly AI drones, will be a pivotal piece of technology in a way I think even beyond nukes in some sense. With a decent AI drone swarm, it's not hard to imagine a SINGLE person dominating an entire population. The dictator's purest dream - none of those pesky military generals getting uppity.

                                      D This user is from outside of this forum
                                      D This user is from outside of this forum
                                      [email protected]
                                      wrote last edited by
                                      #119

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                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      1
                                      • U [email protected]

                                        Elaborate and explain

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                                        wrote last edited by [email protected]
                                        #120

                                        The likelihood we would have to have commanders with armies we could do an entire war with artillery, tank, infantry and air bombardment with jets they would be dead in days.

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                                        • U [email protected]

                                          Elaborate and explain

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                                          wrote last edited by
                                          #121

                                          I'd want to say "8 billion people", but right now 3000 billionaires lead on.

                                          After all, they maintain their position by masterfully playing people off each other and setting things up to be on top. They have all the resources to extend their influence.

                                          If 8 billion people could turn billionaires voices off for anything larger than a day, then yeah, 8 billion all the way, and 3000 will run out FAST.

                                          But the latter know this, and will never let this happen. We should.

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