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bl!ng
16th July 2006, 23:43
When communism is finally established, and there is no more heirarchy, bureaucracy, etc... what happens to computers? what happens to the internet? what happens to airports and airplanes?

I'm not in disagreement with a revolutionary left perspective, but I can't grasp in my mind what would happen to these things. Would we be pushed back into a primitive time of no technology? If there is nobody to produce computers (no one person can produce a whole computer, parts come from all over the world), or airplanes (would I have to use a boat to travel the world?), or the internet (if there are no longer companies providing internet service, who will?)?

Whitten
17th July 2006, 00:05
There is nothing preventing any one person/group from developing individual components for computers, and other individuals/groups other components. Then you can assemble it yourself, or maybe there'll be another person fitting them all together

Matty_UK
17th July 2006, 00:11
Originally posted by bl![email protected] 16 2006, 08:44 PM
When communism is finally established, and there is no more heirarchy, bureaucracy, etc... what happens to computers? what happens to the internet? what happens to airports and airplanes?

I'm not in disagreement with a revolutionary left perspective, but I can't grasp in my mind what would happen to these things. Would we be pushed back into a primitive time of no technology? If there is nobody to produce computers (no one person can produce a whole computer, parts come from all over the world), or airplanes (would I have to use a boat to travel the world?), or the internet (if there are no longer companies providing internet service, who will?)?
Communism is ideally a very high tech society; for example production would be automated and hydroponics and GM foods could allow for growing surplus food in communal gardens.

As for the internet, it would be better as there would be no sites you have to pay for or subcribe to, and all books and music would be free to access. Plus there wouldn't be any incentive for organised, profitable spam, as there'd be no money.

Goatse
17th July 2006, 00:23
If you're referring to who'll control airports, I assume they will remain centralized, under a "mini-government" that handles transport.

Comrade-Z
17th July 2006, 02:59
Originally posted by [email protected] 16 2006, 09:24 PM
If you're referring to who'll control airports, I assume they will remain centralized, under a "mini-government" that handles transport.
Yeah, probably some elected and recallable council of the airline workers.

The internet is almost specially tailored for communism--I doubt its operation would be changed very much after the revolution. I guess we wouldn't have to pay service fees to ISP's, and computers would be distributed according to use instead of exchange value. That's about it.

Zero
17th July 2006, 04:51
Well I'm somewhat computer savvy, so I think that this is a pretty easy set of questions to answer...


Originally posted by "bl!ng"+--> ("bl!ng")what happens to computers?[/b]
What do you want to happen to computers? They are simply a collection of transisters, wiring, and chips. If you mean "What will happen to the computer industry?" I suppose the correct answer would be that it would fall apart. Not in the sense that comes to mind automaticly, but that the entire beurocratic machine of Intel, AMD, BFG, and all those huge companies would collapse. What would be left would be the hardware programmers, the REAL hackers of our day. Those people who absolutely love how computers work, and go absolutely crazy over elegent designs of chip layouts, or board layouts. (If you don't believe these kinds of people exist, I encourage you to read Steven Levy's Hackers, Heroes of the Computer Revolution. This book lays out the entire history of those few who made computers what they are today... guess what? They were communal programmers and hackers who did it because they loved doing it. Some even failed out of M.I.T. because they were so addicted to learning more and more about computers, and furthering the cause.

Imagine that, failing out of a tech school because you wanted to learn more about computers. :rolleyes: )

These people would then (I guess, anyway) form large communes (that for the most part already exist between software hackers, I.E. Linux, and Sourceforge) and continue their work in a much more suitable environment for computer development: Hawaiian t-shirt, Kackeys, and a Boonie hat, in the basement of a sect's communal household. I.E. GEEK PARTY!!! :lol:

Now in this perfect post-revolutionary world, every country has had their own revolution, and all travel is free. Imagine the spread of information. Imagine the spread of development! Peoples lives are enriched by technology. People are touched by the elegent logic of computers. I know I have been ^_^.


Originally posted by "bl!ng"+--> ("bl!ng")what happens to the internet?[/b]
Well I imagine that there will be a serious drop in useage initially, as e-commerce would be completely extinct. But for a long time Internet useage will hold and/or drop over a period of about 5-10-20-30 months, since everything around it will be remade to eliminate as many jobs as possible. Server hosting will drop signifigantly, and most online games will have to resort to home made servers (very few). However I wouldn't expect this to exactly be a bad thing. Sure it would be a pain in the ass initially, but once the manufacturing unions start interfacing with the circutry and electronics communes you would see huge, and I mean huge growth! Gigantic growth. Mainly because those people who designed their different boards wouldn't have to hold back on development for 'the next quarter'. I imagine that there would be signifigant improvement in every single area of the computer. Within months we could be working with 20-30 Ghz cell processors in laptops, and Blu-Ray technology in every removable media tray :D . Imagine PS3 technology in the hands of the public. Think of all the inherent good that would be a result of that? Some people know about programs like [email protected], which used unused processor cycles to calculate data. This wasn't the only such program that used unused cycles. Theres also a program called [email protected] which used the same technology, but to calculate the folding of cell structures in different diseases to look for correlations. When normally these computations relied on hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide to process in unused cycles of a 1.6-2.0-3.0 Ghz machines... then working with tens of millions of 15-20-30Ghz machines! :) It's a nerd's ultimate wet dream. :lol:

("bl!ng")Would we be pushed back into a primitive time of no technology?[/b][/quote]
Absolutely not. In a society where creativity is encouraged more then anything else, we would no-dobut see a giant surge in computer technology. Believe it or not, circutry to a great many is more then a art form. :)


"bl!ng"@
If there is nobody to produce computers (no one person can produce a whole computer, parts come from all over the world)
Thats mainly because the computer industry (like the clothing industry) has exploited labor in 3rd world countries to produce their products. Computer assembly would move along with the circutry and electronics people (since it takes probably about $20-30 worth of meterials, and a good hour of mechinised labor to produce a machine) and they would recieve the latest blueprints for different pieces of the machines.


"bl!ng"
or the internet (if there are no longer companies providing internet service, who will?)
Ahh, I thought that question would come along ^_^.

ISPs do actually very little work in providing service, more in expanding that service to other people. I imagine that the many different companies that used to work for large corporations like AT&T, Bell, and the other phone companies would start creating the city-wide WiFi service towers everywhere they can. Though this would probably take backseat priority since entire countries would start to become "wired up" :P

Remember, all the ISP needs to do to serve you a connection is to keep the power running. All the ISP needs to do to keep the power running is maintain their power grid. All the ISP needs to do maintain their power grid is to do general maintenence on their power structures (lightpoles and stuff). As a bi-product, the Internet will still be connected. ;)

bl!ng
18th July 2006, 01:22
Thanks for all of the replies, guys.