Tehon
Gold Member
- Jun 19, 2015
- 8,938
- 1,239
Yes it does, but it does more than that. It is a commodity but it doesn't get consumed in the transaction. It enters into circulation and takes on a social character all its own.Ah, but the scientific socialist understands this. That is why Marx began his magnum opus with the commodity, value, exchange value and the money form. I understand that there has to be an exchange of value, that doesn't mean it has to be in the form of circulating money that exists now. It can be a simple exchange of equal values.The abolition of money is just a naive way of thinking that one could stop human brains from doing what they are wired to do, in order to survive, which is constantly attributing value and utility to the world around us. That’s actual science, and the fact that you rolled that thought out there shows how little science is behind this type of thinking. Attributing value and utility to things is what your subconscious brain never stops doing. Currency is nothing more than an efficient way of attributing value in a more quantifiable way. Currency is a human achievement, and it is a shortcut that allows the conscious brain to keep up with the subconscious brain and do a much better job of making decisions...in a way the rest of your “tribe” agreed upon. Currency has been a constant of humanity long before we’ve had recorded history, and way long before we put a numerical value to it thousands of years ago. It’s a part of nature that even insects participate in. It’s literally a system that is millions of years old, and there’s a pretty good reason why every civilization uses money since the invention of money.You have lots of misconceptions. The most glaring in this text is;I don’t have misconceptions. It is a top down, simple answer for thousands and thousands of very complex systems that are all commingling and constantly evolving in ways science doesn’t even understand yet. What you are suggesting is extremely non-creative and unadaptive system that offers a one or a few sizes fits all. It only looks at the world through one, maybe two lenses, money and power. It’s reactive, not proactive. And that’s when it is run optimally. It makes government too powerful and too tempting for self service for those in power. You could have Jesus running things but it’s only a matter of time for an asshole to take the reigns.My problem isn't with democracy. I think it is great and we need more of it.
I don't agree with the idea that we can build a socialist society on the back of capitalism. That seems to be the idea that is associated with democratic socialism and I don't believe it is feasible.
Scientific socialism (Marxism) is the study of human social development and economics using the Hegelian dialectic method. Marxism works great at interpreting the world. I think you have a lot of misconceptions about it.
This ^ is the world of capitalism. Scientific socialism would abolish money and along with it power. You've never read Marx, have you?It only looks at the world through one, maybe two lenses, money and power.
Saying that you could abolish currency is like saying you could abolish the thinking behind what makes Matthew Mcconaughey and Scarlet Johanessen hot. You’d have immensely better luck abolishing smartphones. It’s extremely naive and narcissistic thinking, but most importantly, has zero basis in actual science.
How do you think it possible to argue against something you've never taken the time to understand? You might consider reading the link at the bottom of my post.
"Hence, when we bring the products of our labour into relation with each other as values, it is not because we see in these articles the material receptacles of homogeneous human labour. Quite the contrary: whenever, by an exchange, we equate as values our different products, by that very act, we also equate, as human labour, the different kinds of labour expended upon them. We are not aware of this, nevertheless we do it.[28] Value, therefore, does not stalk about with a label describing what it is. It is value, rather, that converts every product into a social hieroglyphic. Later on, we try to decipher the hieroglyphic, to get behind the secret of our own social products; for to stamp an object of utility as a value, is just as much a social product as language. "
Economic Manuscripts: Capital Vol. I - Chapter One
I understand that there has to be an exchange of value, that doesn't mean it has to be in the form of circulating money that exists now. It can be a simple exchange of equal values.
Money facilitates the exchange of equal values.