Finding Arash Kolahi, Reminded of Parecon

One more January tweet thread that was too long to include in yesterday's roundup. This is from Arash Kolahi, whose bio reads, "Left Economist. Writing a book on human nature, potential, fulfillment and society. Psychology, Parecon, Social Theory. Libertarian-Left." I recently started following him there:

There is absolutely nothing “natural” about capitalism. Quite the contrary, capitalism goes against the very core of our human nature.

Humans vs. Capitalism, a thread

Empathy was the evolutionary glue that bound us together, compelling us to look out for one another and take care of each other. Our very survival as a species depended upon it. Empathy was our first hope for survival. It may be our last.

But capitalism punishes empathy and compassion. Instead, capitalism inherently rewards callousness and heartlessness. The less you care about the effects of your actions on others, society and the environment, the more you profit from externalization.

Capitalism is a zero-sum game. It undermines our natural empathetic tendencies by pitting us against one another through institutions that *require* us to trample on one another to get ahead. Caring people finish last. The most callous move up.

We also have cognitive abilities including consciousness, which allow us to abstract thoughts about our actions apart from the actions themselves. We can recall relevant memories, assess present conditions and forecast outcomes, all in our mind’s eye. We naturally want to grapple and engage with the decisions that affect our lives.

But capitalism requires that about 80% of workers have no say in any workplace decisions, leading to pervasive alienation in capitalist workplaces.

Humans have an innate conception of fairness and justice. When the benefits and burdens of our relationships are inequitable, meaning the lion’s share of the benefit goes to one party while the lion’s share of the burden to another, we feel injustice.

But capitalism is inherently inequitable. Capitalism doesn’t reward things we have control over, like how hard we work or our level of effort or duration of work. Instead, capitalism rewards bargaining power.

What could be more human than creativity, innovation, imagination and self-expression? Our inner drive to create defines who we are and brings meaning to our lives.

But capitalism curtails our creative potentials. Capitalist workplaces inherently exclude the contributions of about 80%. On top of that, most of us are fighting daily for mere survival amid poverty, stress, and anxiety of economic injustice.

Capitalism inherently diminishes our fulfillment and curtails our potentials. We can do better!

Kolahi has a tendency to do long threads, often referring to his earlier threads, which makes them hard to quote. But I like what I see so far.

Parecon, which he refers to in his bio, is the short name of Participatory Economics, which I've been interested in for a while but I don't think I've ever managed to post about. It was started by Michael Albert, who I first knew of as the founder of South End Press and Zeta magazine.

If you can get your hands on Parecomic, a graphic explainer of this economic system, I recommend it as an introduction.