Capitalism As An Accelerant Of Extinction

Don’t blame Capitalism, ain’t no money in it. Worst yet, talk bad about the big “C,” and you’ll only get attention from a tiny population of far lefties and anti-Gandhi (clearing my throat) revolutionaries — there is no money in that either, only pain before the die-off. Not cool.

[Did the Soviets kill the Wehrmacht, or was it Saving Private Ryan? Sorry, this is off-topic. Brain fart.]

I suspect Mr. Michaels and I are American boomers.

Steven Pinker is a Canadian American, so he’s unbiased. Steven knows a bit about progress (the teleological justification for Capitalism). Pinker sees Capitalism as a powerful engine for progress requiring careful management and regulation to ensure its benefits are widely shared and its negative impacts are mitigated. Sweet. Steven needs another book in his series of modernity apologetics, “Capitalism Now — The Better Angels of Civilization.”

“It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism” —Mark Fisher

Don’t blame the Players or The Game; we are headed in the “right” direction. Die-off is just another externality, a necessary cost of progress and techno-modernity.

Fa-get-a-bout-iiiiittt!

As Tony Montana said, “First you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the women.”

When did technology take off? During the energy transition in the 19th century. Can you say metastatic?

The term “capitalism,” as we understand it today, emerged in the mid-19th century, but discussions about economic systems that share characteristics with Capitalism have been happening for centuries.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels popularized the term “capitalism” in the mid-1800s to critique the socio-economic system they observed emerging during the Industrial Revolution. The period was a tad bit different from Steven Pinker’s Era of Enlightenment, or the Age of Discovery, or the Age of Wonder, when science, engineering, and technology really took off.

“capitalism” etymology:

The word “capitalism” ultimately derives from the word “capital.”

“Capital” refers to the Latin caput, meaning “head.” It seems odd, but this evolved into capitale in late Latin, which referred to property, possessions, and wealth. (Think of it as “head of cattle” representing wealth.)

Capitalism, a term used to describe an economic system, didn’t appear until the mid-19th century. While there’s some debate about the first use, the Oxford English Dictionary points to William Makepeace Thackeray’s 1854 novel The Newcomes as an early example. (I can’t find the exact quote, but it’s often referenced.)

Capitalism gained wider usage through the writings of socialist thinkers like Marx and Engels.

Ancient Rome: Caput meaning “head.”

Medieval Latin: Capitale evolves to mean “property” and “wealth.”

Mid-17th century: “Capitalist” (an owner of capital) appears…William Makepeace Thackeray

Mid-19th century: “Capitalism” emerges as a term for an economic system…

Much has been written! Much has been written! Fungible, fungible, fungible!

But, you know, even before the term “capitalism” existed, scholars and philosophers debated economic systems with elements of “capitalism” by any other name, like, say, Mercantilism. In his 1776 work “The Wealth of Nations,” Adam Smith explored the concept of a free market economy driven by individual self-interest and competition, laying some of the groundwork for modern capitalist theory. Even earlier figures like Ibn Khaldun, an Arab scholar from the 14th century, made observations about trade, labor, and wealth accumulation that resonate with capitalist ideas.

There are libraries full of capitalist theory. So very much, indeed, has been written! Why, oh, why must we defend and critique it so?

Without our fossil fuel energy transition, there would be no industrial revolution, Capitalism, or global neoliberal financialized omnicidal heat engine, a.k.a. the metastatic Great Game on sugar and copious quantities of alcohol (also sugar) and drugs. We wouldn’t be rearranging deck chairs, drinking champagne, and dancing to the band as it plays on and on and on… There would be no internet, electronic circuses, no strawberries at Christmas dinner in Ohio, no tech bro green energy transition talk, no techno/cloud feudalism, no Google, Amazon, Facebook (all with government contracts supporting the forever war machine) no platforms for us to peck away on, no “having the conversation” on “the Tubes,” and no places where experts on books written decades ago about overshoot can write about extinction and Capitalism.

Capitalism puts the metastatic into civilization/technology. Language, fire, and stone tools are not Bitcoin mining machines powered by gas flares and expensive wind turbines in Texas. (See speeches in the series Landman.)

Who Pumps and Dumps, If Not “The Real Capitalist,” The Players Of The Great Game 2.0. [reality tv show streaming on your favorite platform soon.]

Human behavior (civilization) was the main trigger for contracting cancer (Capitalism).

It’s my fault. I am a civilized, modern, techno-industrial addict of all the wonderful things produced by The Great Game and Capitalism. I don’t need treatment; I must be swept up and taken off the streets to keep things pretty for the country club set. Better yet, I need to die off so The Players of The Great Game can rewild the Earth so they can reboot Capitalism 3.0 and do it right this time with lots of miraculous next, next-generation technology, a “resource-balanced economy” with lots of sensors, bigger data centers on the dark side of the moon estimating just how much copper is left in the Earth and where we can get more on a passing asteroid, and spaceships to new worlds there for the taking as we expand across the universe competing for status and power among worthy Players.

The Capitalists have all the answers; we don’t need to apologize for their fantastic way of life — let them do their thing.

Hell yeah! The oligarchs are in the White House running the show live on MSNBC!

The Great Game must continue; there are no alternatives. We’ve already broken the mold.

Talk about “the predicament.” Do not develop a cure for cancer. Die off, and let the survivors hunt and gather in the garbage dump until the New, New World can be engineered by The Players.

Our “predicament” is just an engineering problem.

Consume (consumption) the conversation; there is no cure for this type of cancer. Consumption will deaden the pain. We need more sugar and more pills to accelerate the thing.

Capitalism is what it is; look in the mirror and take your pills.

Hate the Players and The Great Game.

Someone, please point me to those who are creating an alternative and are willing to sacrifice and fight for it.

I apologize; I’ve been paying attention for a long time and am frustrated. I appreciate your work, Mr. Michaels. I’d love to have a friendly conversation with you (not recorded.) Best!