Thoughts on how to improve the current system

[Taem]

Case and point. No one owns anything, yet everyone is forced to work a supposed equal amount, when in reality some pigs will do virtually nothing and reap all the benefits while the workers live in poverty. What a dream…

^^The society you described there to a near perfect T, ironically enough, is Capitalism - . In Communism: Everyone equally shares in the means to production, and everyones basic needs for survival are provided. You can still own a house and a car privately. You just can't own A FACTORY or place of business - all institutions, as well as resources (including raw materials) that appropriate the products and services of society are owned by the public.

Its an interesting thought, but I stick with my assertions that without honest competition, there will be no variety. Without incentive, people *will* do a bare minimum required to survive. This also means factories that *could* get a cheaper rate on materials (and the labor thereof) will settle for whatever is the status quo because there is no incentive to improve. I suppose I'll have to provide links instead of anecdotal evidence, however I'm reminded of some of the social workers I've met in my life who work for the city and hit their glass ceiling and I wonder, if these people with these attitudes worked in the private sector, they'd be fired in a heartbeat, but because they work for the city and are protected by not only the city but powerful unions, they can do whatever they want, close shop early despite their listed hours, and treat you like crap; lovely system.

Any disparities in wealth will be because some people CHOOSE to have less than others (some people will want to simply own a Toyota and not a Bentley,

This is a pipe-dream in your system. There will be a car. It will transport people. It will be fuel efficient and roomy for a family of four and space to fit groceries. Without access to cheap materials to create goods, private businesses like Toyota will dry-up. And then of course if all materials are available for everyone, expect to see mad-men using all of Earth's mineral resources to build a tower of babble to the moon and back, or mega car companies hogging all the resources. You talk of true freedom, but you will still need rules because people will still do stupid things, even at an evolved state of consciousness.

An interesting thought and I can see how the conclusions where drawn on the transformation from Barbarism to Feudalism to Democracy to Socialism. I think there could be a new evolution in our society that supersedes Socialism, however I don’t think it’s Communism, and I honestly don’t believe Socialism is the correct answer either. I think there needs to be more independence of the states, of the cities, of the individual. Equal rights, of course, but forced equality through conformity in the sense that everyone does equal work and has the same stuff in their home as everyone else, no. It is the natural tendency of the individual to do better than your neighbor and coworkers, hence competition, hence why Communism failed the first couple times around. People are inherently greedy and will always be, unless you somehow find a way to rewire our DNA. This alone is the main reason Communism could never work. Star Trek TNG has a pretty similar thread of logic for its vision of the future, but that will never happen.

But people are NOT inherently greedy or even competitive for that matter

The DNA and genetics argument also works in my favor,

Bottomline: Economic and Social conditions, not genetics, produce human nature, behavior and consciousness.

I don't believe that. If you ever read my view on altruism, you'd know why. I think everything we humans do we do for survival rather we realize it or not. As proof of concept, (I'll find some links to New Scientist when I get home ~ at work), scientists infused a salt mineral with RNA and it exhibited signs of life we consider sacred (i.e. 10-commandments) such as protection of its reproduced self amongst others. I believe the concepts of protecting children from harm or exploitation, laws against murder or theft or even rape, these are things we consider (myself included) to be wrong but even stop to think why? Did GOD tell us this? No, the concept is thus because its written in our DNA - we cannot avoid it. Our actions, our logic is survivalistic by its very nature - just being alive. We only "give" things to others because it make us feel good inside; how selfish. If we felt nothing at all, we would not give for no reason. And why do we give? To those less fortunate perhaps our need to help our species. To relatives on special occasions to fit in to the social conformity of which you speak. There is no altruism, only survival, and hence there could never be an evolved state of consciousness to form a Communistic society as you describe. Just being aware of it does not change the fact that its an inescapable truth.

I discovered that at least half the stuff I learned in my high school history classes, was taught in a very slanted/revisionist way - if it wasn't complete bullshit altogether.

As has always been the case. The victor is the hero, the looser the villain. Had Hitler won, he'd be the "savior" of the East.

That is an absurd statement. Many revolutions took place to overthrow a tyrant or dictator whom many times cared little about brainwashing their citizens and more about collecting goods/money (think Africa for example).

Nope, it isn't, and history is on my side. All forms of tyrannical governments used some sort of brainwashing to control society somehow.

Think about it, they HAVE to use some form of brain washing to keep society controlled, because an educated and socially astute society will rebel. Slavery as I mentioned before was another example. At one point it was acceptable in our society, now it is not. At least not in a direct fashion.

I really don't understand how you to came to this conclusion. Pre-Feudalism times, and even today in 3rd world countries, you have war-lords who control small pockets of areas and often just rule - nothing more. They fight each other for more power, and sometimes innocents get caught up, sometimes not, but the revolution happens not because of constant brainwashing, but because the people are sick of living in decrepit, war-like conditions constantly. Ironically, it's really no different that how it was with native Indians here in the states, except these people nowadays are poor as hell and have no way to improve, but this is not because the people have been brainwashed into thinking this, but because they literally have nothing to give and hence no way to improve. Their lot in life is sealed unless a factory from a first world country opens in their province.

Again, total disagreement; I believe the exact opposite of what you are stating here, that only under Capitalism can we do better. I see no incentive to do better in a system where everyone has total equality without room to be better than your fellow man.

Your argument seems to imply that people are lazy by nature and expect handouts - a unfair (and rather bleak) outlook to have on our species I think.

I'll edit my post and try to find links to prove my point, but for the most part, once we've hit our glass ceiling, incentive is gone and interest wanes. At this point, boredom seeps in. How many times have you seen someone you know take up a job they "love" only to find it's turned into a 9-5 "grind" after a few years. Work is work. Monotony, no matter how challenging, is still the same thing over and over after awhile. People will not continue to challenge themselves under these circumstances. In a society where everything they want is handed to them, and there is no competitive reason to improve or ability to do so because all resources are owned by the government, I'm 100% sure people will get lazy, vastly more than you are willing to accept.

I wanted to give this more time, but I have to return to work. Hope it came out the way I think it sounds.