Re: [Marxism] the collective unconscious

["Paul H. Dillon" <illonph@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The entire notion that technological innovation is based on profit is one of
the biggest lies of capitalist ideology.  All to the contrary: what is
useful (and thereby capable of transformation to value) can never be
produced by the circulation of value itself which is nothing but an abstract
representation of use value in general, transformed through the matrix of
socially necessary labor.  That's a simple deduction of dialectical
materialism that is overwhelmingly confirmed in the history of technology.

The expansion and implementation of technology depends on the control of
social capital which is a problem of  levels of planning and control of the
productive process at a social level.  One beautiful thing about the article
on organic farming in Cuba was precisely its illustration of how extremely
sophisticated levels of technological knowledge have been applied in a
socialist context with results that benefited the society as a whole and
whose implementation didn't depend on a value-based distribution of
resource.  The fact that the system doesn't respond to value was emphasized
repeatedly by the author at the end of his article when he discussed how
this sustainable agriculture would be swamped if the embargo was lifted and
food from US industrial farms began to pour in.

We all know which technologies get expanded and reproduced in capitalist
societies -- those capable of producing surplus value which, contrary to
another fundamental lie of capitalist ideology, usually have nothing to do
with satisfying fundamental human needs: be they material or
spiritual/cultural.  All to the contrary, they usually have to do with
destroying humans both materially and spiritually.  Something the pope came
to see and for which Fidel went to church, I think.

Paul Dillon



----- Original Message -----
From: <cerejota@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition"
<marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, April 08, 2005 8:44 AM
Subject: Re: [Marxism] the collective unconscious


> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Les Schaffer <schaffer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> > The whole notion of intellectual property and patents runs counter
> > to
> > the most base collective properties of human beings to share their
> > abilities and knowledge without even conscious intent.
>
> In the EU, for example, you can't patent mathematical formulas and
> algorigthims, the legal basis being that such things are not "discovered"
> but where essentially natural facts of nature made evident.
>
> The argument that this stiffles creative development in math falls when
> you realize that a disproportionate number of mathematical developments
> happen in Europe as compared with the USA.
>
> sks
>
>
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