A world without capitalism, are you nuts?! No, I’m good, thank you for checking. I’m just trying to bring some hope into a hopeless world through opening my mind and imagining different options we all have. Because we do have options! The twats in lead would never allow us to realise that, but oh, we have options.
And that’s what I’m asking you to do with me today: open your mind, get a bit delulu, and let’s see what we can create! It may all be hypothetical for now but who’s to say any of this is impossible? Because it isn’t!
I suggest you start this visualisation practice by familiarising yourself with the concept of money. We’ve been scammed beyond any measure because money doesn’t actually have any value at all! Google it, get acquainted with it and stop chasing the thing that matters LESS THAN NOTHING in this world! Yet, we’re supposed to waste our lives chasing it??
No thanks! It’s high time we came up with different ways we can organise our societies after capitalism, because the fact is: capitalism is dying. Good riddance!
So, what would the world look like without the absolute need to work just to be able to stay alive and have a roof over our heads? Let’s start from thinking about what would it all be centred around if there was no money to prioritise.
I’ve gathered some views and ideas here for you to consider and I think it would all come down to community-led societies that exist in harmony with the planet. Simply because if we don’t start living within this planet’s limits, we won’t exist for much longer.
Daily Life in a World Without Capitalism
Let’s start with the basics: what could our daily lives look like in a world without capitalism? When money is taken out of the equation our options in terms of how to spend our days are opened up as wide as can be. In the brainwashed state that we live it’s hard to even imagine such a situation.
But let’s try! Ask yourself this; if money doesn’t exist, and thus you wouldn’t need to work, what would you do every day?
- How would your morning routine change and what would it look like if you were not in a hurry?
- What would you do during the day? Remember, you can do whatever because money doesn’t exist!
- Would you want to contribute somehow to the world/society/community around you? How and what could you contribute?
- What would be the purpose of getting out of bed every morning when you don’t have to get up to make just enough money to survive on pot noodles?
Here’s what comes to my mind when I imagine living without money and work dictating most of our days:
Community is emphasized in how we live
Throughout human history (which gets longer by the minute) our species has been a socially driven group of creatures. It’s only in the 20th and 21st centuries when we’ve seen utter self-centeredness and individualistic thinking being encouraged. As individualism became mainstream (especially in the West), the reasons why people have up til now been more community-driven have become clear:
- Humans have never been as lonely as a majority of us are today
- We’ve never been so mentally exhausted and burnt out (as we didn’t need to deal with everything on our own before)
- And we’ve never lacked social skills and emotional intelligence to this extent before.
Sure, the world also looks very different than it did before the World Wars, and that’s exactly the point! When you’re alone and maybe also feeling low you are easy to control. And that is exactly what capitalism thrives from.
So, in a world without capitalism we all have to come together if we wish to survive. When everything around us crashes – the monetary system, global movement of goods, etc. – we can only rely on each other. Can you be relied on?
What would this look like in practice?
Well, firstly I don’t think there would be homelessness when money isn’t the thing that determines who can have a roof over their head and who can’t. The community would quickly replace money as the driving force, I think. I see it as inevitable because:
- In order to keep peace in any community, everybody’s basic needs must be met.
- One of the fundamental basic needs is a clean, warm and secure home.
- In a world where money does not rule, accommodation would be provided for everyone just because it’s obvious!
Secondly, when money doesn’t exist, we have flexibility. Humans are creative creatures but we don’t even know what we are capable of because our lives are currently wasted by forced labor, aka work for a meager salary.
The way I see it, cooperation and communities replace money which leads to everybody contributing to society according to their abilities and needs. Daily routines would focus on communal activities, such as collective gardening, cooking, and crafts, which improves everybody’s life quality, which in turn leads to innovations. Because no, capitalism does NOT drive innovation.
Sustainability is the priority
The only kind of a world after capitalism is a world that prioritises sustainability in absolutely everything. Now, this can sound near-impossible to imagine to many Westerners who have lived their entire lives in abundance thinking that over-consumption is their god-given right. Newsflash: cheap shit is NOT your privilege!
- We’ve already used more of this planet’s resources that can ever be regenerated.
- We’ve even managed to kill into extinction TWO THIRDS of all wildlife in the past 50 years alone.
- Capitalists always talk about efficiency and oh, that is efficient!
Efficiency of the most self-destructive kind. It’s almost like humans were the stupidest species on the planet destroying everything and themselves… Knowingly!
If we want to exist still in another 50 years time, the only way forward is by living within the planet’s limits. No more same-day deliveries, no deliveries of any kind at all, in fact! Instead, we must prioritise eco-friendly practices, which would involve permaculture, different forms of renewable energy, and local sourcing of materials. We’ve all heard about them, so why aren’t we doing them?
Skill sharing and education is everyone’s responsibility
In a world without capitalism every able-bodied individual would need to contribute in different ways that they are able to. Now, I’m one of the laziest mutafukkas on the planet and proudly so. So imagining a system where the system’s actual functioning depends on me doing my part does make the hairs at the back of my neck stand a little.
But it is what it is: the world we live in right now is not realistic. It will end because the Planet will run out of fuel. And no matter how many times some ugly trillionaire tells you there are other planets for us out there, there. Are. NOT.
So, we need to start getting back to what used to be quite mainstream only 50, 60, 70 years ago: passing along and sharing our skills and knowledge. Instead of schools brainwashing us with capitalist propaganda, education of a more varied sort can be passed through mentorship. By this I refer to skills like farming, craftsmanship, and medicine, but the scope is actually endless. Because so are human capabilities.
Health and well-being are essential for the society to function
We can see it in most Western countries with right wing governments right now: the prevalence and severity of mental health issues leads to violence and lives lost every single day. Lives that could’ve been spared with proper mental health care and by prioritising people’s wellbeing.
For a world without capitalism to work, it would absolutely need to emphasise good mental and physical health. Communities are the key thing in this. In addition to larger gatherings within a community, there would always be someone to talk to and get support from. Fostering strong, genuine relationships instead of these modern day “transactional relationships” is surely a better way to go about it, wouldn’t you agree?
As a side note, how wild is this: would we have any wars in the world today if these old men in lead were actually mentally stable, even sane? Yeah, I don’t think so either.
Potential Systems of Governance in a World Without Capitalism
Right, now we’ve theorised and visualised what our world without capitalism would look like socially on an everyday level. I chose to do it this way because it’s quite likely that when everything crashes we will lose most of the systems of governance that we have right now. Simply because they’re all based on and revolve around money.
So first we must come together and get the basic living standards in order within our communities. And then it’s time to start building a new system of governance. We already have a strong base for democratic future governance: the infrastructure and AI. Here are 3 ways in which we could ensure fair governance after capitalism is gone:
Democracy that encourages and enables everybody’s participation
We already know that democracy doesn’t work when people are lacking intellectually and subdued with continuous propaganda. How could you expect anyone to be able to make sensible political decisions while being bombarded by misleading adverts, toxic social media content and state-run lies? Well, we’ve already seen the results of it all, cough, trumpety, cough cough…
In a world without capitalism, where money doesn’t run shit, decisions could be made through the mix of AI and direct participation. This would mean creating councils to address a community’s needs. In these councils topics would be discussed openly while ensuring all voices are heard. If this sounds far-fetched, it’s actually been done before and is still a form of governance in socialist countries like the Nordic countries.
Not everything needs to be discussed in councils, though. There are plenty of governance that could be left to Artificial Intelligence to manage. This is already being tested in Serbia. In addition, we have another system that enables the wider public to participate in the governance of their own lives from home if they wish: it’s called blockchain.
Now, I should do as I preach and share my knowledge on blockchains and the properly democratic and inclusive applications they already offer us, but I’ll do that in a separate article. Stay tuned!
Resource-based economies
Once money is gone, other things, things that actually are valuable because they are necessary, take precedence in terms of an ‘economy’. We already know that money and diamonds are actually worthless, so we need to do a bit of mental gymnastics here to shake off the consumerism mindset.
A world without capitalism would see skills and capabilities as currency and necessity as the driving force in any economy. By necessity I mean goods and services that we all require to perform our day to day activities, whatever they may be. In a resource-based, sustainable economy those goods and services would be distributed according to availability and necessity rather than market demand.
Holistic education framework
In order to enable and maintain the two aforementioned ideas of governing, we need to teach people about them. By doing so we make sure that people know what needs to be done in order to keep the society running. Also, the aforementioned sharing of skills and knowledge is obviously a big part of this.
In practice it would mean
- developing healthy and intelligent individuals
- incorporating emotional and social learning
- teaching practical skills
- and with all of the above enhancing community coherence.
Again, some of you might think that’ll never work. But I grew up in a country where general knowledge and critical thinking were the base of the entire education system, so I know this to be completely achievable. And I also know from personal experience just how useful and beneficial such an education system is.
Finishing the Loop with Community and Environmental Integration
In order for everything we’ve visualised so far to work, there has to be some sort of a frame, within which everything works. In capitalism that framework was money and the capital markets. Absolutely everything revolved around the illusion of a nonexistent commodity that had no value… I can’t get over how idiotic we all are just suffering along in such a nightmare of a world.
But a world without capitalism will not be so senseless. Instead, it should revolve around tangible, useful and necessary goods and services for which the framework could be community and the environment, as we’ve discussed. How would such a framework be maintained, though? Well, here are couple ideas about it:
Ecological economy
Communities should have skilled admins and officials/stewards whose responsibility it would be to restore and maintain local ecosystems. This is another topic where AI could also be utilised for the community’s advantage. The admins would be individuals who have studied environmental issues and ecological conditions.
These people understand that everyone’s survival within that community or society is tied to the health of the environment. Thus, they can keep track that everything within the economy is balanced, fair and sustainable. Not rule or dictate, but to keep track and help the community adjust accordingly.
The biggest issue here is how would we keep those people in check who have an infinite greed for power and control over others? That can be an article for another time.
Supporting and prioritising local production
Since sustainability and ecological existence is essential in the world without capitalism, local production will finally receive the attention and respect it deserves! Gone are the days of consuming for the sake of consuming. Instead, we’ll finally learn to respect quality over quantity.
Basic necessities will finally be produced locally to reduce environmental impact, as they were not that long ago! My own grandmother bought her clothes in Finland and those clothes were made in Finland, which meant the highest quality of fabrics and craftsmanship. Why did we ever opt out of all that?
Anyway, as production like farming, textile production, and craftsmanship are local, it obviously ensures that there’s something for everyone to do. Something worthwhile! You might not even know what that feels like since our corporate jobs are anything but worth our while… Well, it’s time to learn!
The rise of creativity, cultural exchange and the arts
Especially here in the West, most countries have almost lost their local culture and cultural heritage. AI can supposedly “create art” so who’d waste money on paintings, concerts and performances that are written, produced and created by humans?
Well, in a world without capitalism we wouldn’t need to pay for any of it. It would all be an integral part of our existence simply because we humans are creative beings. And since we wouldn’t need to waste our time and energy in jobs making worthless money for other people but us, we’d have the capability and the space to find inspiration.
I said it before and I’ll say it again: most of you don’t even know how creative and capable you really are. You’ve been told to get down from that high horse and stop dreaming because creating imaginary capital for a less capable individual who just happens to be your boss is supposedly more important. Fuck that!
Also, creativity, culture and arts aren’t only society-specific. Instead different communities and societies can flourish through sharing of diverse cultural practices and ideas. Just imagine what a beautiful world it would be that fosters a rich communal identity that values tradition and innovation.
A World Without Capitalism – Final Thoughts
Now that we’ve played the game and imagined all the possibilities that exist outside of this corrupt, unfair and unjust system called liberal capitalism, one question remains:
Which countries would actually survive the collapse of capitalism and the money markets? Sorry to tell you this but 90% of the Western countries would not survive. The US has zero chance of surviving, the UK also very likely to falter completely. Many of these countries would cease to exist if money ceases to exist… What a beautiful thought.
But most countries globally would be just fine! In Europe the eastern regions would become the leading force, in Asia huge cities would be able to adjust their ways and the entire continent of Africa would finally thrive. Why? Simply because all of those areas have countries that already thrive in systems that
- emphasize values rooted in community,
- exist together with and at the mercy of Mother Nature,
- and produce/consume for need, not for want.
A world without capitalism can only be a world that accepts the limitations of this beautiful planet and lives accordingly. For over 1 000 years we humans have been nothing more than a cancer that Planet Earth suffers from. And us, the cancer, have gotten to the point where we are now only decades away from killing the patient and with it ourselves.
So, your choice is simple: do you keep on consuming and wasting this one life you have or are you going to prepare for the inevitable collapse of capitalism? I’m so ready and looking forward to the Big Crash 😈
