yeahwriters:

thinkingininklings:

Stephen Fry’s take on the e-reader vs. book argument.

THANK YOU

The best thing that can happen to books would be the advancement of digital distribution. 

Right now books cost a lot of money just to produce the actual paper and book. Imagine how many people will read when the price of books comes down when no one is printing and binding books anymore. 

So much wasted cost, gone. Now great writers can make more, companies can make more and consumers can pay less and lose less space to books and the environment also wins. 

Progression in technology, especially the rapid kind, is the best thing that can happen to the environment. 

(via anarcho-alowisney)

staticdiplomat:

sdwisener:

staticdiplomat:

alaawesome:

dialektic:

veilofmaya13:

dialektic:

Capitalism didn’t create that. Sorry.

The government sure as hell didn’t create it.

Although, some foundation attribution could be given to the government. But I never claimed the government did create it. I simply stated that capitalism did not create it. What created it was the investment of savings by the people who thought it would be a good idea to have thumb drives. These individuals were not capitalists. They were inventors and marketeers. I’m sure capitalists bought it from them, but they certainly did not invent it.

You literally gave the definition of capitalism to claim that it wasn’t capitalism. Inventors and marketeers are the drivers of capitalism as an economic system; they are the capitalists. Capitalists are more than just bankers; your understanding of the issue ranges from nominal to fictional.

“They were marketeers not capitalists” 
Oh dear.

I can see the Disney version now.
“The Three Marketeers!”

Don’t ask me why. I don’t know why.

Some people think they are so smart that they usually end up out-smarting themselves. 

I actually hate how all these idiots try to redefine capitalism simply because they hate the current system and falsely believe it to be capitalism. 

eltigrechico:

stepping—razor:

stfuconservatives:

robot-heart-politics:

Except if everyone could afford to live like that, who would clean their toilets for minimum wage (or less)? And if everyone should be able to live like this, why are capitalists so reluctant to pay people enough to do so? Oh, yeah. Because then they might not be able to live like that.

A socialist looks at this house and says, “Wow, it sucks that our system is so unequal that some Americans get to live like this while others are crowded in tiny apartments in crime-ridden areas and don’t have to enough to eat. We should change things so everyone’s standard of living is improved, even if that means not as many people get to live in big houses like this.”

A capitalist looks at this house and says, “Everyone should be able to live like this, but I’m not going to do a damn thing to contribute to that ability.”

1. People aren’t static

2. Looking at the bolded text, it looks like “capitalists” and much of the tumblr left have at least one thing in common

What idiots don’t understand about the advancement and progress of technology, industry and markets is that overtime what once seemed unattainable and luxurious eventually becomes the norm and even sub-par. 

People are so blinded by their present-day greed or envy or even disgust that they don’t realize that someday, in the future, what you wish you had today, everyone will have. 

Let’s look at some examples:

Only the rich had cars. Then, because the rich actually spent money and smart people entered the industry, cars became affordable and the masses could have cars. We’ve become so accustomed and spoiled by this becoming the norm that some people are embarrassed of their lower-quality cars. 50 years ago, you’d drive around in a beat up Carola like you were a Rockefeller. 

Let’s look at something even simpler than a car. Running hot water. Today, almost everyone in America has running hot water and we’re getting tot he point that almost everyone on the planet has the same. Sure, in other parts of the world, it’s more rare, but let’s focus on America. 100 to 200 years ago, you’d shower once a week, if lucky, in reused, lukewarm water. Today, we take daily is not multiple showers a day.

Thanks to progress, these things have become the norm, yet we don’t appreciate it. And some people, the anti-capitalist crowd, are to stupid to even realize to be taught. 

Look at every industry. Look how Airbags and ABS went from only a Mercedes feature, most couldn’t afford. Today, the worst car has 6 airbags and giant breaks. Look at medical advancements. A 100 years ago, the common cold would kill you. But with the advancement and investment by those vilified rich, those that could afford the emergent, cutting edge treatment,  today we have tech available for people how have no money that would seem like science fiction for our great grandparents. 

Accumulation of funds and the investment of those funds bring about progress. When people who have brilliant ideas and need the resources and the funding to develop them, that’s what advances humanity. That’s what brings progress. Without the ability of market interaction and voluntary investment, everyone would hoard their ideas and their resources and we’d never accumulate short-lived pools of ideas and funding to ever create new wealth for all to benefit from. 

Appreciate what you have and understand that overtime, progress touches us all and we all benefit. Don’t hate those that benefit now due to their ability to afford it for themselves. Their high-priced investment today will help bring that product to the masses for cheap. 

- Sha

antigovernmentextremist:

“Over 23% of all the goods and services made since 1AD were produced from 2001 to 2010, according to an updated version of Angus Maddison’s figures.”

“Capitalism sucks, bro”