: Sprout: As you admit, there has never been a succesful communist society. The flaw in your thinking is that these attempts at communism weren't the utopia you envision. : SDF: Since it never happened, it never will happen. Not a visionary idea, Sprout, and constitutive of an argumentative fallacy. Try again.
: Sprout: Do you think they started out with the intention of failing? They started out thinking as you do, and had the inevitable result. Communism will always fail as it is human nature to try and get ahead. Always has been, always will be. There will always be someone who will sieze the opportunity to improve their position.
: SDF: I wonder what would have become of Orville and Wilbur Wright if they had believed that "Human flight will always fail as it is human nature to walk on the ground." Would they have invented the airplane? At least in Sprout's message we have this arbitary notion of human nature as inherently "trying to get ahead." Trying to get ahead of what, Sprout? Death? Clarify.
: Essay question for Sprout: Are human beings inherently capitalistic? Where would a "capitalism gene" be located in the human genotype?
: Essay question for everyone else: Who wins, who loses, when people believe what Sprout believes?
The Wright brothers indeed. What would have happened to them under communism? Would they have bothered to innovate? Why would anyone take a risk if there was no potential for reward?
Through history, humans have always shown a desire to increase living standards. There is an inherant desire to become better off, be it to increase power, finances, health, knowledge, or otherwise.
