tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321349.post3908511822073006910..comments2024-03-18T22:21:33.261-07:00Comments on The Debate Link: Zizek on Contemporary CapitalismDavid Schraubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04946653376744012423noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321349.post-40836565101424067362008-06-25T20:16:00.000-07:002008-06-25T20:16:00.000-07:00Given how bad communism in practice is at protecti...Given how bad communism in practice is at protecting in the environment, I actually prefer the hyper capitalistic solution of forcing the internalization of externalities. Businesses shouldn't embark on a new project unless their profits will suffice to pay for minimizing its effect on the air and water we all share. Carbon neutrality shouldn't be the province of yuppies, but a government mandate. I'm more skeptical than Zizek of whether intellectual property is necessarily a commons in the way the environment obviously is. No one creates The Environment; it predates the evolution of homo sapiens sapiens. In contrast, people do create intellectual property. I can fight someone from profiting on the pollution of my air or the marketing of my genes, but I don't see how I have the right to prevent them from making money on an idea that they came up with.PGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09381347581328622706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321349.post-385154777801301372008-06-25T14:28:00.000-07:002008-06-25T14:28:00.000-07:00In looking to the notion of communism as part of t...In looking to the notion of communism as part of the solution to the threat of ecological catastrophe, I presume he sees no need to reconcile that with the horrible ecological record of the Soviet Union. He's probably thinking of a more pure (and literally utopian) form of communism, rather than Marxism-Leninism in practice. He is, of course, free to do so, but the relevance of his writing is reduced accordingly.schiller1979https://www.blogger.com/profile/13960814043853910096noreply@blogger.com