starkillerfish

i am the person who says question mark out loud

So I can explain the role of the state for marxists. The state exists as a means for one class to oppress another. In the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, the proletariat class is oppressed. In the dictatorship of the proletariat it is the other way around. So as a result of a prolonged dictatorship of the proletariat, you will no longer have a bourgeois class, so the state will 'wither away' because there is no more class to oppress. The dissolution of the state comes with the dissolution of the classes.

To me, a social state doesn't have the same un-resolvable contradictions (needed to create a revolutionary moment) as capitalist states do.

What you are describing is similar to the events of the Cultural Revolution in China, so I recommend reading up on that.

they need a catchier name for sure. quite interesting development nonetheless

i've read that book in the original Russian. definitely one of my favorite classics (even though as another commenter pointed out, Dostoevsky had some weird politics).

if you are struggling to read however, I would suggest getting into more modern writers (for both fiction and non-fiction)? It helped me a lot when I was struggling and I still read contemporary stuff when I just want to relax.

the couple of soviet posters youve been posting recently are just gold. US politics havent moved a millimeter since 1950s

DPP has a pretty strong lead in the polls, so most likely a win for them. If kmt + tpp were doing their joint ticket thing I think it would be closer.

Ive read a few articles about using machine learning technologies in medicine (for finding tumors for instance) which actually made me quite optimistic about using AI beyond shitty capitalist grifts

the symbols for sun ☉ and earth 🜨 are pretty neat for that i think!

I agree with Ronin_5 that it is a waste of time if they 'love to get into debates'. If they are actually interested in your thoughts and ask questions, you should just answer the best way you can. If they want to debate and not actually learn, no amount of talking points will change their mind.

Companies very much prefer one time costs (bunch of equipment) rather than recurring ones (wages). One time costs (1) look better on the balance sheet and (2) are easier to justify to shareholders as they don’t eat into future profits. Businesses basically never base their decisions on math ever.

I use obsidian for research and writing. It’s free but not open source. I would recommend it still because it’s really nice for linking and searching notes.

I would ask for what purpose do you want to read? Which areas interest you most? If you just want to read to learn, then nothing is ‘supplemental’. I would urge you to just read as much as possible and not focus on what reading is more important.

If you are just starting out, I would recommend on the origins of family and Imperialism. If you are having trouble with facts, don’t hesitate to look it up or ask here. It was written 100 years ago after all, so knowing the context helps a lot.