Cancelling Twitter

#1

All integralists should cancel their Twitter accounts. There is no justification for one multi-billionaire acquiring ownership of a social medium that is used by countless people around the world. Elon Musk is not a responsible owner of anything. He’s fired half of Twitter’s workforce and imposes brutal working conditions at his Tesla factory. Integralists like Jeff Salzman and Robb Smith should stop wasting their time posting bumper-sticker messages on a platform that allows for no context or supporting argumentation and which must co-exist with a massive amount of “toxic slurry.” If you must use a trivializing platform of that sort, try an alternative to Twitter, for example, Mastodon which you can read about here (https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/nov/16/could-this-be-twitter-without-the-toxic-slurry-my-week-on-mastodon). Not worth the trouble, in my opinion.

PS: You may have noted that this message–hardly a model of extended argument–would exceed the limit on # of characters if posted on Twitter.

#2

The deeper issue here is the crisis of capitalism - and also the topic that nobody really wants to talk about.
We live in an age where billionaire capitalists no longer strive to make useful things like better cars, better refrigerators or even better toasters.
Capitalism since the 1980s has focused on creating a desire in consumers to purchase things that by and large make their lives worse - and brainwash them to believe it’s actually better than healthy things. Entertainment, news, food, personal care products, supplements - we can go on and on.social media is a subset of this and Twitter just a symptom.
I never made a Twitter account. I don’t know of anyone I respect enough to get a constant stream of their opinions on every topic. I see it as a cacophony of brainless reactionary dribble. At least on Facebook there is a marketplace to buy or sell things or meet others. But fb always strives to make their service less and less useful and more and more useless dribble.
I myself have been canceling modern capitalism for about 3 decades now. For example - I don’t buy disposable razors. They have declined in quality over the past 30 years. Instead I use a razor that was patented in the 1950s and only manufactured in Germany. It gives me a far far better shave than anything invented after 1950. Same with the cream. Modern shaving creams and gels suck lol. I buy shoes from europe that are based off of 100 year old technology and are not just better but can also be repaired. and so on.

#3

To be fair, integralists occasionally do talk about capitalism. If you type “capitalism” into the IL search bar, you will get links to 4 articles, including this one: https://integrallife.com/last-gasp-late-stage-capitalism-integral-look-republican-tax-plan/

For my money, the best prominent critic of late-stage capitalism is economist Richard D. Wolff. You will find a ton of his video talks on Youtube.

Oops. Almost forgot to mention Robb Smith’s excellent essay (e-book) The Great Release.

#4

I’ll admit to a slight hyperbole by saying “nobody”

#5

Speaking of which, how you liking that updated search function? Our old one was TERRIBLE, I love this one very much :slight_smile:

Also, looks like Twitter is about to self-destruct any minute now. I don’t spend much time on there, but I know a lot of folks do. I am curious what platform will come next, and whether it will be as much an accelerant for our epistemic collapse as Twitter and Facebook have been.

#6

New search bar?
Thumbs%20up

BTW, I appreciate your taking the time once in a while to post to the Community site. As far as I can tell, none of the other members of the IL elite ever do.

#7

I always find frustrating reading:
“all integralists should do this or do that…”
Capitalism is big word, but after more than 150 yrs of theories about capitalism, I cannot help feeling that we should be careful not to simplify too much capitalism.
When I read part of the comment of RayBennett I think there is a structural difference between for example capitalism in a Ford factory and in a toyota factory.
My pov at this time, twitter, fb and co are experimenting (with no limit, control, or good intention) experimenting with economy of attention, of consciousness. And Twitter seems to be passing from a pluralistic approach to magic / power gods approach…
Maybe in the mist of all this cancelling, negating, separating… we might want to take the risk to imagine collectively what twitter will be like, if a more integral approach was animated this company.
I felt sad, immensely sad, when I saw all these twitter employees leaving the company. All the pluralistic green preferring doing hara kiri than going back to power god hierarchy.
How do Integrate and support all previous paradigms in their growth in a company like twitter?
What musk has demonstrated at the end: with fictitious money (telsa shares), with the only mission to serve the ego of one man, he was allowed to buy twitter.
Maybe we should be more creative than just cancelling? Throw me the first stone, I am not on twitter.

Lexa

PS: big thanks for the updated function of the search! Highly appreciated over here!

#8

This thread involves some of my favorite topics. These include:

  • the future of capitalism (or economic systems in general)
  • the role of information technology in society
  • the best pathway forward to a more just and functional society

Rather than stating an opinion on any of it, I’d like to express a wish. Does anyone have an AQAL definition of “capitalism”? What it is, really? How do we experience it? How does that experience change at different altitudes?