Australia has 'radically changed', leaving workers with the smallest share of the economic pie on record

I don’t think so, but thanks for trying.

I'm unclear on what this refers to, but it's clear we fundamentally disagree on the sustainability of capitalism. "Mutual ownership of capital" is a somewhat ambiguous phrase; if the mutual ownership is skewed in favour of one group or class, then the same contradictions of capitalism will occur over time, and it leaves open the space for ideologies like fascism if the favoured group is based on nationalism or belonging to a racial group. If it's owned by the workers equitably without any government/state control, then you're essentially describing libertarian/anarchist socialism which falls outside of capitalism i.e. the private ownership of capital.

Ironically, the idea that there is no alternative to capitalism is associated with Margaret Thatcher and neoliberalism.

‘data is the new oil’ - own your own means of production. Fork your own irreconcilable difference in acts with your friends, parasite the compounding growth. Or write manifestos.

As someone working in the data analytics space: personal ownership of data isn't really comparable to another commodity like a house, factory, shares in a company, or oil.

Consider what data is collected and sold about a person: the interactions that a person has on a website, such as Facebook. Information and metadata about which links I've clicked on, what media I've looked at, and what other users I've interacted with are logged. However how should one conceive of ownership of this given that there are at least two parties to this interaction, the user and Facebook, each with their own record of the interaction?

Facebook doesn't need to "sell" any of the users data, it can simply apply analytics to the information recorded on how a user has interacted with their site, build a profile or set of characteristics about the user based on these interactions, group similar users together into demographics, and then sell advertising space to other companies to target a specific demographic it has identified. At no point does Facebook need to sell personal data to the advertiser, what it is selling is access to user groups that an advertiser might be interested in targeting.

Given this, what data would I "own" that would let me sell it or treat it as a means of production? Can someone even own a record of interactions; if a friend visits my house and interacts with me and my things, do they own information about these interactions? I know this is probably too much analysis on a throwaway flowery statement rather than a serious attempt at providing a solution to the fact that most people don't own capital, but I hope you at least take away that statements like that really are woo-woo.

As for what happens after capitalism, I'm not sure. I have my hopes that it will be take the form of a peaceful transition to democratic socialism that guarantees necessities like food, shelter, healthcare, education etc, but I cannot predict the future.

I think you're tied to the idea that replacing capitalism involves some smashing or return to dust. However, in the same way that capitalism arose out of the corpse of feudalism, I agree that whatever comes next will have the historical context of capitalism behind it but it will not (and likely cannot) be a system that holds private ownership of capital as its core tenet.

Anyway, thank you for the discussion, sorry if I was condescending at points. I hope I have given you an alternative viewpoint to at least consider. Definitely read Mark Fisher's 'Capitalist Realism' if you get the chance.

/r/australia Thread Parent Link - abc.net.au