1. Why does technology alone not necessarily change the world? in the era of market economy. The core of allowing you to recycle consumption is that after the commodity is produced, its validity period cannot be longer than the durability period. Consumerism is essentially based on the rapid consumption of resources, that is, "planned obsolescence" (the merchant's term is "internal obsolescence", especially in the clothing industry), which is the core of the market economy. On the one hand, the service life of products is designed to be short, encouraging replacement, so as to bring continuous profits to the enterprise through circular purchases. On the other hand, strengthen the packaging and build the brand to stimulate the desire of consumers. If capitalists want to make profits, they can only encourage consumers to consume more and more. Because in this world where capital is king, technology has become an extension of capital consciousness (efficiency, durability and redundancy are the enemies of interests, and capital must ensure durability, inefficiency and scarcity) * Diamond mining technology is mature, But the oligarchs jointly control the output of diamonds, and together with Hollywood stars, giving diamonds more Veblen value is what capitalists prefer. * Oil extraction technology is mature, but the joint control of oil production by oligarchs is the only way to keep oil prices. * Why does consumerism create fashion by season? Why do you have to change your car after a while? This is true for your electrical appliances and clothing. The purpose of updating and iterating with publicity anxiety and novelty is to make you consume more. 2. The recurring crisis source of capitalism: the worker is both a consumer and a producer and is most dependent on this system because his wages also come from this system. When reasonable and economical consumption, they will be the first to feel the consequences of this behavior - unemployment. This is the same as the cyclical crisis of capitalism explained in Marx's Capital. Capitalists exploit workers, making workers unable to buy goods, and finally bringing themselves a large excess of products, business bankruptcy, layoffs and layoffs. Continued into deflation, the Great Depression. This is why the film mentions that if 75% of the jobs can actually be replaced by automated machinery, but companies do not use robots and mechanization in large numbers, because they need to pay employees, so that employees have money to buy the products they produce .
3. Is the big data version of the planned economy advisable? Is it feasible to change ownership to sharing in the future?
The film talks about two plans in the last half hour. The first plan is similar to the big data version of the plan, using technology to dynamically adjust supply and demand on a global scale to ensure maximum utilization of resources. The second plan is similar to the sharing of all things. For objects that you do not use very often, use the lease method instead of the own method to save resources. The first is the planned economy of the big data version. No matter how many sensors are installed in markets, businesses, or homes, they can only collect data but not generate data. Those who generate data are still those who trade in the market. Markets are not only information collectors and publishers, but also information generators. Back to Hayek's insight again: data is produced in economic activity and cannot be prepared in advance so that the government can plan ahead for these economic activities. Secondly, there are two problems faced by the consumption mode that replaces ownership with lease rights. The first problem is loss, and the second problem is return. It is unavoidable to face loss, because it is not private goods, but the characteristics of public goods. The second question involves the collection of personal credit data, which is still a very arduous task at present.
4. Is money evil? As long as there is an exchange between items, a transaction has already occurred, and the transactions must be measured. Currency is neutral, contains no sin, is just a measure. Gold is essentially indistinguishable from seashells. If the currency is canceled, there will be something else that expects it to be nothing more than a change of semantics, and this thing also plays the role of currency.
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