One absurd complaint I keep coming across is that a political proposal based on analytical principles is contrary to art. Precisely the opposite is true. Note: This post is not an attack on art. It’s an argument that dry principles are better at defending art than art itself: Although some artists perceive them as beingContinue reading “Disagreement with ideas that pass for common sense, Part 2: A Critique of Pure Aesthetics”
Tag Archives: philosophy
Materialist Economics, Part 5: Concluding Remarks
This proposal is not fully communist in the way Marx imagined. It does not abolish all market exchange. It does not assume perfect social harmony. What it offers is a framework in which the productive capacity of society is directed by the people who depend on it, backed by empirical science. The disagreements with MarxContinue reading “Materialist Economics, Part 5: Concluding Remarks”
Materialist Economics, Part 4: Objections and Responses
If necessary goods are readily available, why would anyone work at all? The objection rests on the premise that necessary goods are freely distributed. They are not. They are produced by the government sector and sold at public stores in exchange for labor vouchers. A person who does not work does not receive vouchers andContinue reading “Materialist Economics, Part 4: Objections and Responses”
Materialist Economics, Part 3: Accountable Planning
Without protected human rights, it is impossible to know the will of the people. Any system of democratic production requires, as a precondition, constitutional protections for speech, assembly, and political participation. The rule of law must be upheld. Legal challenges must meet reasonable evidential standards, and accusations of wrongdoing must be resolved through due process.Continue reading “Materialist Economics, Part 3: Accountable Planning”
Materialist Economics, Part 2: The Problem
Consider a recurring pattern in international affairs. A major power backs an armed faction abroad. When that faction takes power, its human rights record becomes a pretext for military contracts and arms sales. The crisis generates jobs in the defense industry while destroying livelihoods elsewhere. This is job creation through destruction. A simple alternative wouldContinue reading “Materialist Economics, Part 2: The Problem”
Materialist Economics, Part 1: Mechanical Materialism
The theoretical framework behind this proposal is mechanical materialism, a philosophical system argued for by the economist Paul Cockshott and the philosopher Katerina Kolozova. It seeks to extend the Newtonian approach to science to sociology, unifying both under a combined framework that employs conservation laws, statistical mechanics, and information theory. Researchers associated with this programContinue reading “Materialist Economics, Part 1: Mechanical Materialism”
Philosophies of Contradiction: Marx contra Buddha
Buddhism begins with impermanence: everything changes, clinging to what changes produces suffering, and no fixed self persists through the flux. Marxist dialectics begins with contradiction: every system generates internal tensions that undermine it, and development arises from the working-out of those tensions. Both reject static substances. Both insist on process. Both claim that understanding changeContinue reading “Philosophies of Contradiction: Marx contra Buddha”
Genius Is Retarded
It is important to argue that humans don’t have transcendent intelligence. Fascist discourse thrives on praising human brilliance, and by proxy, the so-called brilliance of the world’s leaders. Rather than there being a general skill called “intelligence”, humans can do 3 things: 1. Observe objects, 2. track their movements in memory, whether internal or external,Continue reading “Genius Is Retarded”
Free Rider Problem vs. the goal of socialism
Leftists shouldn’t try to ban competition altogether. The problem with capitalism is that the profit motive leads to dynamics like the business cycles: As a result, when a capitalist economy doesn’t grow, it keeps shrinking. No stable state is possible. So far, capitalist growth has been fueled by incorporating new markets like new technology andContinue reading “Free Rider Problem vs. the goal of socialism”
What is to be done?
Update: An incomplete elaboration of this system: https://snapshotsofthelabyrinth.photo.blog/2026/03/21/materialist-economics-part-3-accountable-planning/ https://snapshotsofthelabyrinth.photo.blog/2026/03/21/materialist-economics-part-4-objections-and-responses/ The removal mechanics are misleading as written. First America backs the Islamists. When the Islamists come to power, America says they’re violating human rights. Then America use that as a justification to buy weapons. This is how they create jobs. Why can’t we create jobs byContinue reading “What is to be done?”
Snapshots of the Labyrinth 