Leo,
this discussion is pointless.
I don't see what is so pointless. We are discussing the fate of the world here.
I can understand that you are incapable of envisioning different kind of world than it is today and I don't blame you, not many people can.
That's because most people are realistic and down-to-earth. They do not indulge in idealistic fantasies.
But at least, you should be able to recognize that the world, as it is today, is on the brink of collapse. Problems that we're facing today in the world are overwhelming, these are hard facts and quotes from your favorite book won't make them go away.
I get the feeling that you think I am happy with the world as it is now... I'm not!! And the facts and quotes that I am preaching is what will save us. And you know what, quotes about your abundant world won't make the the problems in our world go away either!! We can sit around and ponder these thoughts, but we clearly have to do something about it.
Yes, you are right, at this moment we are not fully yet there technologically, but in 5-10 years we will be there and we won't be ready if we don't start with preparations now. There are dozens of proposals out there, most of them won't work without cooperation of the whole world.
Free market capitalism will grow the world way better than what you propose. If people traded to suit each others needs the world can only grow. The only reason why everything is so bad is because of the freaking governments. They limit and regulate what human life can and can't do.
I don't want to waste my time arguing with Rand's philosophy. It is not very smart thing to say that all public schools and hospitals and roads and fire departments etc. are evil and lead to altruism, dictator, destruction and death.
We give the government control over the most important services of our lives. The government. The very people who rely ON GROUPS of people to stay in power. By lying and manipulating people who do not think critically. Giving out false promises that they will somehow fix this and they will fix that... You know who fixes all the problems in the world. The people. You know who's responsible for what actually happens in our lives. The people. The government shouldn't have ever taken responsibility for changing the delegating our world.
Altruism is the very thing that allows evil people to exist. A narcissist cannot suckk the life out of someone's soul if that person pursued their selfish interest. A psychopath cannot manipulate and control people when people are thinking rationally about themselves and what is good for them. But a psychopath, one that demands power, can easily find a position in the government by promising all kinds of things. Essentially, the government is this kind of unlimited power that demands that the people serve it. If the government became free enterprise; in other words, if we paid the government to perform services such as health care, the army, mail, education...it puts the government as the servant automatically. We've spent billions of dollars in education and guess what, education has not gotten better. You know what would make education better? An education that you pay for. Education that is worth its time. If the education fails the business doesn't make money. If education is good, the business makes money. The government doesn't care about our education. How can one person know what is good for everyone in education? Everyone hates standardized tests. Everyone hates getting up to go to school, so they waste their time and don't do their best. The teachers hate their jobs and make hardly any money. Only a multiple range of businesses can suit the public of what it needs for an education. Imagine how much more money teachers would make if they taught privately. Suddenly, the quality of the teacher matters. We give our health care, one of the most important things, to the government's control. Unbelievable. Imagine if the entire world was privately owned. All of the garbage quality services would go out of business. Who says you can't have public roads? Who says you need roads anyway? Imagine the businesses that would try to provide transportation without the use of roads, or create better roads that are safer to drive on. Or try to invent vehicles that float, or drive under water. Or create a city or life that only needed you to walk to your work. Without the government's control and only the government protecting citizen's right, our choices are limitless.
Altruism and sharing to everyone, indiscriminately, is the reason why the world is completely messed up. If everyone pursued their selfish interest, no one would do anything to decrease their quality of or anyone else's quality of life. People would only trade with others to increase their life's quality and to increase the other person's life quality.
I take it that you don't live in a mansion right now and there is 99,99% chance that you never will, and yet, every proposed system in which you don't get to live in a mansion will not be to your liking because that leads to altruism, dictator, destruction and death.
Absolutely. However, what's only fair is that the smartest and most productive of people should be able to live in mansions if they choose. And if they don't, they can give their money away. Separation of state and economics allows a peaceful coexistence of economic beliefs. Those who don't believe in capitalism can pool their money together and give it away to the less fortunate. But they cannot expect those who do believe in capitalism to do the same. Just as a Christian cannot impose or expect a Muslim to adopt their religion and vice versa.
If you are right and humanity is not capable of producing abundance, then enjoy your life to the fullest while you can, because the road we are currently on will end in total chaos and destruction.
How exactly do you think it will end? What's gonna go down first and why?