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Lumifer comments on Open thread, Aug. 03 - Aug. 09, 2015 - Less Wrong Discussion

5 Post author: MrMind 03 August 2015 07:05AM

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Comment author: [deleted] 05 August 2015 05:42:52PM 1 point [-]

Communists (in the marxist sense) definitely take a systems thinking gear like approach, not a magical "evil people do evil things" approach. The entire idea behind Marxism is that there's a systemic problem with capitalism where the rich own the means of production. This will lead to a systemic unrest among those who don't own the means of production, which will eventually lead to a revolution.

I would say the problem is not systems thinking in this case, but lack of empiricism. Communism has been proven again and again to lead to corruption, but that fact is ignored by communists because it contradicts their systemic models. That's not just a leftist problem though. For instance, it's been shown again and again that raising the minimum wage doesn't lead to unemployement, but that's been ignored again and again by the right because it contradicts their systemic model.

Comment author: Lumifer 05 August 2015 05:56:39PM 4 points [-]

it's been shown again and again that raising the minimum wage doesn't lead to unemployement

That's not true. Or, rather, it's only true if you cherry-pick your economics papers. In fact, there is considerable debate as to the economic consequences (especially beyond short-term) of the minimum wage and the question is far from settled.

Comment author: [deleted] 05 August 2015 06:04:16PM *  -1 points [-]

Well, yes.

Which still means that the right wing stance is at best, incomplete. Which isn't the stance you see any of the politicians taking, at least not in the US.

Comment author: Lumifer 05 August 2015 06:07:35PM *  -1 points [-]

I haven't seen anyone (well, anyone who isn't drooling or foaming) claim "completeness" :-)

Comment author: [deleted] 05 August 2015 08:14:16PM *  -2 points [-]

I think it's implied in the arguments you see them making.

Comment author: Lumifer 06 August 2015 04:18:24AM 2 points [-]

I think it's implied in the arguments you see them making.

Oh, like this one?

it's been shown again and again that raising the minimum wage doesn't lead to unemployement

Comment author: [deleted] 06 August 2015 04:33:55AM *  -1 points [-]

Yes, as I've admitted in the previous comments, that's not true.

And yes, I've seen the reverse attitude many times.