this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2023
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Reading Antifragile by Nassim Taleb was eye-opening for me. I turn to the concepts of the book whenever I feel unsure about a decision or opinion.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Walkaway by Cory Doctorow. I was interested in anarchism in my college years, but turned away from it because of what I perceived as the strongman problem. What happens when the psychopaths come for what you have?

Walkaway solved that. In a post scarcity society, you walk away. Let them have your shit. You can build new shit, better shit, avoiding the mistakes you made and making grander mistakes forever into the future.

This book brought me back into the fold. It was transformative, and in a really big way

[โ€“] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You wouldn't have post scarcity society in anarchism, though. And if that has been achieved before, it would be what they attack first.

[โ€“] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

There's different flavors of anarchism just like there's different flavors of anything. Saying they'd all "attack x first" is very far beyond what any person can reasonably predict. Particularly given how chaotic anarchy can be.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You should read the book. Might just change your mind

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I really should, that is true. I'll put it on the list. I've read most of Doctorow's older books already.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Including Down and Out In The Magic Kingdom? 'Cause Walkaway is the prequel

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

In a post scarcity society, you walk away. Let them have your shit. You can build new shit, better shit

How do you do that if they take all your 3d printers (the technology which sustains the post-scarcity world in this novel)?

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How could they possibly take all of anything in a POST-scarcity society?

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Post-scarcity society still has to be backed by something. In the novel, it's 3d printers. If you have more 3d printers than others, you can use it to produce weapons to capture even more 3d printers from other people, making them scarce, and thus introducing scarcity again.