I’m referring to kids before even going to school. Ego / identity develops in kids by around age 5, that’s when they see the I separate from the rest, they see the difference between what they have and what others have, they find this identity that only belongs to them in this sea of identities and they adjust and they react. I’m not sure if you’ve talked to kids before age 5, I’ve raised a few kids, and so I’m talking from experience.

Humans by default want to love one another unconditionally. It is how kids are, it is how our pets are. It is our biases and prejudices and labels and insecurities and traumas that have made our love for one another conditional. The whole world needed a big hug after the pandemic. We didn’t get one. We saw powerful propaganda being an effectual tool in sowing discord, and it worked by appealing to our individualism, incorrectly overriding collectivism. With the visible rise of individualism worldwide, we’re all shriveling in our lonely corners, unloved. Everyone is, not just those choosing the individualism. The world needs loving. Here’s a hug for everyone who reads this comment. I love you unconditionally.

You are a very good person, because you are reflective of your past, conscious of your actions, and have morals that gave you the guilt that you feel. You’re alright little one.

Thanks, Cowbee! It seems to me, that in practice (as opposed to theory, not game), if socialism is 5 steps away on the chessboard, then market socialism has to be step 1, simply because that’s where we are (1. markets aren’t going away tomorrow, and 2. everyone currently has to engage in the economy one way or another). It’s what is the ‘adjacent next’. Changing everyone’s minds all at once seems mathematically impossible. I guess what I’m trying to say is that it is possible that all our collective energies might be better spent focusing on just step 1.

Suppose we replace all capitalists with worker cooperatives. What happens when two worker cooperatives compete in free market? We’ll still be at capitalism, wont we?