this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2026
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[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Plenty of other economic systems also made people to work under threat of starvation.

Unless the Romans and Greeks were capitalists, too.

[–] DeathsEmbrace@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago

Not like capitalism. It has a marketing scheme where it gives you the illusion of free will and choices.

[–] flandish@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

that’s cool. we live under none of those systems. focus on the one we are beholden to and don’t distract as if there is some sort of contest.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world -2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

I’m just trying not to replace this with something worse.

But since I know history I get to watch humans make the same mistakes over and over again.

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Fun fact: not questioning capitalism inevitably leads to EXTRA awfulness added as the people at the top use their outsized wealth and influence to remake society based on their stupid and/or selfish ideas.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world -3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Capitalism sucks ass, for its own unique reasons and for reasons it shares with other economic systems.

If it’s replaced with another system with clocks and pants and jobs I’ll hate that one too.

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Capitalism sucks ass

Yup. You can stop there.

No need to tack on the whataboutism in a transparent attempt to argue in favor of it without being seen doing so.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world -1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I will not have my honor impugned by suggesting I support a system with pants.

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Then leave out the unnecessary "but other systems are bad too" whataboutism 🤷🏻

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world -1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Do those systems have pants? Then I think they’re bad, too.

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Again, that's not the point.

With the possible exception of fundamentalist anarcho-primitism, all systems tend to involve pants one way or the other.

That DOESN'T preclude you from criticizing the system currently ruining the world more than any other without a whataboutism caveat.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I’ve long ago come to terms with the fact that I will never be truly happy.

But I’m not going to pretend I like pants.

That part's fair, I guess 🤷🏻

[–] greenbit@lemmy.zip 1 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

We should work on replacing then, it's clear that the way things are has to go

[–] MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Unless the Romans and Greeks were capitalists, too.

Nope, just slavers, not wage slavers. The dynamics of power are eternal, merely the forms change. One hopes at some point we evolve.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

“Nooo!! We need hierarchy!!! If there’s no one to tell me what to do I won’t know what to do!” - everybody every time I bring up hierarchy as the cause of many of humanity’s problems

[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's not just economic systems. Every animal works under the threat of starvation.

Just watch a nature documentary. Grazing animals have to eat for hours a day just to eat enough to avoid starvation, and they have to constantly be on the lookout for predators. Predators need to take down one of those grazing animals on a regular basis or they starve.

There has never been a way of living that didn't involve working to avoid starving. When humans developed agriculture, it finally meant that when things were going well starvation was something that might be months away instead of weeks away.

There has never been an economic system where everybody could just be creative and rest all day and not work. That may be true of some elites at the top, but it will always be a small minority of people while everyone else works.

You can always hope that that work will become more pleasant, or that there will be less of it. Work used to be sun-up to sun-down, 6 days a week. Our ancestors fought and died for laws that reduced this to only 8 hours a day and only 5 days a week. Work these days is mostly done indoors, mostly in heated or air-conditioned spaces. It doesn't tend to maim you, or require repetitive movements that eventually cripple you.

People should definitely keep fighting for more. They should join unions so they're not having to fight on their own. But, nobody should be deluded into think it's abnormal to have to work to live.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

no clocks. Or pants.

Flavor Flav and MC Hammer would never make it as aardvarks.

[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

animal behaviorists are finding that what they first perceived as lack of functional importance often has dazzling significance after all.

the sand scorpion seems to emerge from its burrow and just stand around waiting for a meal to happen by. But Oregon State University zoologist Philip Brownell has discovered that the scorpion has receptors on its feet that sense approaching insects from several inches away by detecting minute disturbances of the desert.

The polar bear often naps next to a seal's breathing hole with one paw cocked for a lethal swipe. Alligators have floating slumber parties beneath heron rookeries during nesting season, waiting for hapless fledglings and jostled eggs. The female fence lizard, which is "at rest" 98 percent of the time, spends that time in the energizing sun within a tongue's dart of smorgasbord rest stops for passing insects.

The African lion, which University of Minnesota zoologist Anne Pusey says can eat 66 pounds at a sitting and then lie around on its back for several days digesting the meal, is another strategic loafer: It does most of that lying around in the shade, near a waterhole, with one eye open to potential next meals.

So is there anything at all to animal laziness? Do wild creatures ever just plain loaf? Not, says Cornell biologist Paul Sherman, from the point of view of evolutionary biologists.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Maybe read the whole thing.

Zoologist Herbers, who readily acknowledges that such discoveries lead to questions "so much more sophisticated than they were ten years ago," still maintains that animals like to loaf. "Sure, there are good excuses for lounging around at a certain time and place-like the lions in the shade at the waterhole, where they can keep cool and jump a warthog at the same time," she says. "But make no mistake; some of these animals are relaxing. They're there because they would prefer to lie around in the shade on a hot day than to work for a living." She is particularly intrigued by rest as a reward for efficiency. "A quick kill," she says, "equals a nice long nap."

And among those most studied of animals, the social insects, division of labor determines whether they're on active duty or just standing by. Doctoral candidate Susanne Kuhnholz of Cornell University is almost certain that some bees, for instance, are designated water carriers whose job is to cool or heat the hive and brood as need dictates.

"Most of the time it looks like they're just hanging around the hive," she says. "But if it gets too hot, they become very busy, distributing water. And if it gets too cold, they uncouple their wings from their flight muscles and shiver to generate metabolic heat."

Or read this lovely article about lazy ants

Or find something that shows animals desire clocks and pants and constant motion.

[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Animals don't want pants. Humans want pants and netflix and adult colouring books. If humans were willing to spend 8 hours a day, every day, lounging on a rock instead, then they could get by with doing a lot less work for money.

More evidence that I am not human.