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+1 vote
In an anarchist society where will the innovation come from? In a capitalist society innovation comes with the incentive of money and in an anarchist society there isn't that. Innovation is essentially what has provided us the standard of living today. So where does the incentive to innovate come from in anarchism?
by
a. few anarchists would accept the assumption that we should hold on to our current "standard of living", which comes with a ton of undesirable things (alienation, depression, pollution, systematic injustices, etc etc etc).

b. capitalism =/= competition. further, capitalism limits innovation to certain more or less rigid categories that are understood to be profitable.

c. competition is not the only way to innovate. perhaps some kropotkin is in order?
indeed.

perhaps a working "definition" of innovation would help...

2 Answers

+4 votes

Necessity ?

by (260 points)
I might add: boredom
+7 votes
"So where does the incentive to innovate come from in anarchism?"

individual desire. anything else would raise questions in my mind about an anarchistic perspective.

i would ask this: why would innovation - much less incentive - be a specific desire/goal of any system that is not economically rooted? wouldn't it be up to each individual to choose in what ways they want to improve their own life (and that of those they care about)?

not saying this is the case, but the question sounds like a typical one asked by @-caps and their brethren.
by (13.4k points)
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