Western economists, journalists and analysts systematically underestimate China's technology leadership, especially on the decarbonisation of a legacy 20th Century fossil fuel economy.
When I say western civilization, I’m referring to the social structures and the system as a whole rather than individuals. Of course there are plenty of people in the west who are starting to reject the system, but the west as a whole remains the same as it was institutionally. It’s extractive economic policy remains the same, and hence, as a whole it acts as a regressive force upon humanity.
And sure, China, like any human society has plenty of problems, but the difference is the overall trajectory and the social structure in China which makes it a progressive force.
We all have extractive economic policies just because of the way our societies and geography work. There are limits to growth which no civilised society has truly embraced yet. People are slowly starting to accept this argument, and I see China going in a more positive direction, but it’s still not enough, there is a lot of work to be done everywhere.
Right, but trade doesn’t need to be extractive is my point. China also needs resources, but they didn’t build a system of exploitation to get them. It is possible to work with other countries without having to dominate and subjugate them so that everyone benefits.
Of course not, what I’m saying is our whole economic system has to be decolonized and not in the liberal way, unless we develop advanced resource extraction from space (don’t you dare say mine the moon) we are kind of doomed as a species. I also dont believe in dominating other people just so I get my treats.
Yeah and honestly I don’t see any society really embracing that. We have this year made enough clothes to last for 20 years…The whole globe is basically following a European lifestyle whether it’s socialist or not, if we really took ecological concerns seriously our world would look very different, but since most people have decided that how Europeans live is the epitome of wealth that’s the model that’s exported around the globe, at the end of the day not every place in the world can look like Paris or New York it’s not ecologically possible. If people were really not alienated from labor and the environment our lives would look very different. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter if its a socialist country expelling natives from their land because they want access to recourses or a capitalist country. We all demand lifestyles that require alienation to one degree or another. Chinese socialists were inspired by cities like Paris and Shanghai hardly a good example of what an unalienated city or society looks like.
Why do you think all the psychos are preparing for WW3?
And this all goes back to the western civilization being the problem. Its capitalist model rooted in consumerism has become the model for the whole world to emulate. And the US in particular has spent billions on building a cultural hegemony with its media glorifying American style of living. So, is it any surprise that this has become the aspirational lifestyle the rest of the world looks up to.
Had USSR prevailed, we might’ve had an alternative model to follow that’s not based on mindless consumption. But the west was hell bent on defeating USSR precisely because of the threat of an alternative. Soviets wanted to have peaceful coexistence but the west simply could not countenance that.
But there are some hopeful signs coming out of China now, for example replacing ads on billboards with pictures of scientists and descriptions of their accomplishment is a good step. https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202609/1369560.shtml
When I say western civilization, I’m referring to the social structures and the system as a whole rather than individuals. Of course there are plenty of people in the west who are starting to reject the system, but the west as a whole remains the same as it was institutionally. It’s extractive economic policy remains the same, and hence, as a whole it acts as a regressive force upon humanity.
And sure, China, like any human society has plenty of problems, but the difference is the overall trajectory and the social structure in China which makes it a progressive force.
We all have extractive economic policies just because of the way our societies and geography work. There are limits to growth which no civilised society has truly embraced yet. People are slowly starting to accept this argument, and I see China going in a more positive direction, but it’s still not enough, there is a lot of work to be done everywhere.
That’s not the main reason western economies are extractive. It’s the very nature of how financial capitalism works that makes them so. https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2021/08/the-value-of-nothing-capital-versus-growth/
Yes, and at the end of the day not every resource exists in every place. I’m not excusing capitalism as an economic system.
Right, but trade doesn’t need to be extractive is my point. China also needs resources, but they didn’t build a system of exploitation to get them. It is possible to work with other countries without having to dominate and subjugate them so that everyone benefits.
Of course not, what I’m saying is our whole economic system has to be decolonized and not in the liberal way, unless we develop advanced resource extraction from space (don’t you dare say mine the moon) we are kind of doomed as a species. I also dont believe in dominating other people just so I get my treats.
Oh I agree, we have to move away from consumerism and growth mentality given that we live in a closed system.
Yeah and honestly I don’t see any society really embracing that. We have this year made enough clothes to last for 20 years…The whole globe is basically following a European lifestyle whether it’s socialist or not, if we really took ecological concerns seriously our world would look very different, but since most people have decided that how Europeans live is the epitome of wealth that’s the model that’s exported around the globe, at the end of the day not every place in the world can look like Paris or New York it’s not ecologically possible. If people were really not alienated from labor and the environment our lives would look very different. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter if its a socialist country expelling natives from their land because they want access to recourses or a capitalist country. We all demand lifestyles that require alienation to one degree or another. Chinese socialists were inspired by cities like Paris and Shanghai hardly a good example of what an unalienated city or society looks like.
Why do you think all the psychos are preparing for WW3?
And this all goes back to the western civilization being the problem. Its capitalist model rooted in consumerism has become the model for the whole world to emulate. And the US in particular has spent billions on building a cultural hegemony with its media glorifying American style of living. So, is it any surprise that this has become the aspirational lifestyle the rest of the world looks up to.
Had USSR prevailed, we might’ve had an alternative model to follow that’s not based on mindless consumption. But the west was hell bent on defeating USSR precisely because of the threat of an alternative. Soviets wanted to have peaceful coexistence but the west simply could not countenance that.
But there are some hopeful signs coming out of China now, for example replacing ads on billboards with pictures of scientists and descriptions of their accomplishment is a good step. https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202609/1369560.shtml