I disagree, it’s an argument for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (see the 7 minute mark). The political stuff Kurzgesagt publishes is mostly for them, so take it with a grain of salt at least. My problem with the video itself is that it promotes innovation as the consequence of supply and demand, advocating for ‘market will solve this’ essentially. Also trying to convince you that wealth isn’t a zero sum game, and that you can just increase everyone’s wealth without inconveniencing the top 1%. Of course there are no sources for any claims or any analysis provided, just cool animations.

I think at the moment being against the empire within the empire is kind of an outlier situation. Materially, most people benefit from imperialism (in the empire). But then there are areas where capitalism fails no matter the material conditions, even for the imperial core, like climate change or queer liberation. For me personally the gateway to marxism were queer studies. I think with the contradictions sharpening (i know, very cliche), there will be more gateway topics like these to use as anchors for further class consciousness, and with worsening material conditions there of course will be more questions towards the status quo.

I can answer some of these from my perspective.

2. The way I see it, it is impossible to ignore the contradictions of capital for the human psyche, so something must be used to explain them. Because of the lack of education, corporate funded media etc. etc., the blame falls on immigrants and poor people. Also because of the widespread notion of the “middle class” nobody really sees themselves as the lower class.

3. I am not born in the empire but i do live in it. And i really don’t like the exceptionalist attitude. Being ML doesn’t make you a “chosen one” or the lucky few. In terms of common thread, it’s material conditions necessary to be dissatisfied with status quo+ interest in history/politics.

Spiritual values is just stuff like the cishet family, defending the motherland etc. Russia has been positioning itself as the spiritually and morally superior nation compared to the west in their media.

Yeah I had this problem with the literature com

I would argue that the destruction of major productive centers would be as disastrous as climate change. Why can’t both be true?

I could also be minimizing the threat of climate change by saying that the world won’t end because of it. It is an unreasonable bar however for us to consider something to be destructive. I don’t think it’s controversial to not want millions of deaths.

I’ve been meaning to read Socialist States and the Environment, which is an account of the ecological achievements of socialist states, including USSR.

True, I do enjoy reading more. Any literature you can recommend on the topic? I’m mostly relying on my understanding of nuclear famine, and the logical consequences of destroying vast amounts of infrastructure and population.

Japan had the infrastructure left to rebuild those cities. If a full nuclear exchange occurs, there will be no infrastructure, no healthy land for agriculture, no population to rebuild anything, there is just no possibility of recovery. I’m sorry but your take is unhinged.

for me the arguments would be mostly negative because:

1. using it does not train your research skills
2. using it does not train your creative and academic writing skills
3. it is often just wrong when synthesizing text

so to me those are major cons in an educational context some positives would perhaps be:

1. it is useful as a phrase bank, as it can quickly give ideas on how to put words together.
2. it is alright at giving direction when starting research, sort of like wikipedia

thats all i can think of so far

i am pro website brutalism ( pretty cool website i found that collects this aesthetic https://brutalistwebsites.com/ )

It’s always cool to make socialist connections irl!

Very cool achievement. Wondering how space exploration will look like post ISS + how space exploration cooperation will look like.

Also seemingly promoting the notion that Marx is the only person to critique capitalism ever :/

yeah i got to visit a couple of debates! everyone was super friendly and the topics were super diverse

it was a lot of fun!

just some thoughts from my readings. if anyone has corrections ill be happy to edit.

5. I would be wary of the idea of innovation for innovations sake. If you do want to point to things, I’d point to the USSR space program. There are also numerous nobel prize winners for specific scientific discoveries. Also the internet in the US was government funded. The basic idea of innovation in capitalist mode of production is that the risks of development are taken on by the public (taxes paid for research, eg. vaccines), but the technology and profits are appropriated by the capitalist class.

6. Depends when, but in later stages of the USSR you could make a small business. But to me the question is: what exactly do you want to pursue? If you have an idea how to improve a specific product you could petition to work at that specific department. Making new products would be under the jurisdiction of the relevant GOSPLAN department.

7. Essentially correct, except there were complex (and patchwork) systems in place for purchasing and distribution of produce.

8. There were penalties in place if you refused to work (fines, visits by authorities). You dont lose housing (you are always assigned one) or medical care (free) or payment for family (women worked in the USSR too + childcare was available), but you could get in serious trouble. The question here is also: why would you refuse to work? If you didn’t like your workplace you could fill paperwork to be reassigned. You had vacation days etc. So a refusal like that would probably be seen as a sign of distress.

9. Not easy to answer in a paragraph, but the basic gist is that after Mao the CPC changed quite a bit and saw the introduction of foreign capital and market reforms as a necessity for progress. I think the current CPC position is that they are building up productive forces before moving on to the next stage of socialism.

hanged out with PSL folks while I was in the states. very interesting to see their progress as a party!