Capitalism's private ownership fundamentally excludes society's resources, production, knowledge, wealth, etc. away from the public and into the hands of a few private interests for the sake of their own personal gain. This is, at its core, not a good system for society as a whole. By structurally withholding these things from the rest of society, only accessible via the prerequisite of money/capital, functionally stifles the ability, drive, and/or the benefits for the vast majority of people to innovate. Think of how much more innovation we could have if all people had access to the collective resources and knowledge of everyone, instead of being restricted by private for-profit owners. After all, which group would both have more innovation and be better off: a group of people all hiding knowledge and resources from each other for personal gain OR a group of people all sharing collective knowledge and resources for the benefit of each other?
Additionally, the "drive" under capitalism, called the profit motive, reduces the desire and ability of innovation down to whether or not something can be profitable on the market, regardless of the benefits or detriments it may have on society. Even the workers doing any of the actual work and innovation in a company do not get to reap the benefits of their own labor, as the profits generated under capitalism belong to the private owner(s), not the workers, so the profit motive only even applies to private owners to begin with. And again, market capitalism's reliance on market profits means that innovations that would be great for society - but not profitable - will likely never get to see the light of day, compared to innovations that are harmful to society - but are very profitable - which will undoubtedly end up well-funded and mass-produced. Not only is capitalism's profit motive NOT beneficial for the majority of society, but it also is not even designed to be in the first place. The profit motive is designed for the greediest in society to amass maximum personal wealth, regardless of how it affects society.
Even your examples, like smartphones, were not the result of capitalist innovation, they were the result of publicly-funded research. Nearly every technological innovation is produced through public funds and then taken over by private businesses to mass-produce products for their own gains, out of the technology that our own taxes helped create. Capitalism ruins societal production. Importantly, capitalism is never responsible for innovation, labor is. All innovation and production is the result of working class labor; the -ism just determines who owns the profits, in which case capitalism takes it from the workers and gives it to the "owners".
A better system would be one in which society's economy is actually owned by and for the public, instead of owned by private interests.
@OilBartLibertarian7mos7MO
Interesting points! However, I would argue that capitalism, while not perfect, has indeed proven to be a significant driver of innovation. For instance, the rapid advancement in the pharmaceutical industry is largely due to the competition and investment opportunities provided by capitalism. Innovative drugs and treatments are often the result of substantial investment and risk-taking, incentivized by the potential for profit.
Moreover, the concept of intellectual property, a cornerstone of capitalism, protects innovators, encouraging them to invest time and resources into developing new… Read more
@VulcanMan6 7mos7MO
The most significant driver of innovation is simply the desire to make life better/easier. Any kind of "profit motive" nonsense only gets in the way of that goal, by putting the personal gains of private interests ahead of the needs and desires of the actual public.
Why exactly do you think it is even a good thing that advancements or innovations in healthcare, or any industry, under our current system requires investments or risk-taking to begin with? Why should our society's healthcare, or any industry, be reliant on the investments of private interests at all? Our economy should notRead more
