There are several ideas out there, but yes they generally require transitioning away from capitalism. The one I’m particularly fond of is called a “library economy”, where we no longer commoditize anything that isn’t consumable. Imagine instead of buying a wheelbarrow and shovel to do some yard work, you go to the gardening library and checkout the things you need. When you’re done in about 3 weeks, you return the items back to the library.
In general though, any planned economy would be far more efficient and less wasteful. Imagine that instead of 30 different TV’s with the exact same panel, there’s 2 or 3 types of tv with that panel. The way Walmart operates is a perfect example of a planned economy.
Library actually sounds nice. Funny you mentioned wheelbarrow, I actually need one for a project, but have no space for one, and hate the idea of buying something I’ll need once. I’ll end up renting one, but would be great to check one out.
I don’t see how a library economy would work with a lot of things. Like, if I wanted to do a house cleaning day, I go to the cleaning library and rent a vacuum. But what if I drop something on the floor…I have to check out a vacuum, just to clean it up? Then what if all the vacuums are checked out? It really seems horrible inefficient and a logistical nightmare.
The ‘tragedy of the commons’ is very much exaggerated and misunderstood. It is 100% possible to collectively govern commons without a tragedy situation, and there are plenty of examples of it happening in real life. The economist Elinor Ostrom actually won a Nobe Prize in Economics for demonstrating this.
The real tragedy of the commons is that we lost the commons to the wealthy elite. We can govern the commons collectively by ourselves without the need for governments, corporations, or the influence of money. I also have a hard time imagining someone deciding that they need 10 wheelbarrows and taking them all from the library, which can acquire more. Are there people checking out every copy of Harry Potter from a book library just to deprive others from reading it?
A library economy doesn’t mean you can’t also own things. You can own a vacuum, and then borrow a steamer for the big spring cleaning. Or say you’re like me and vacuums aren’t necessary most of the time. Instead of owning one, I could go and get one once a month.
Interesting! Would there be a limit to how much any person can “check out” or for how long? How is this different from renting tools in the current system?
So most of what I see about a library economy is that you can use items indefinitely, and I absolutely think that we should have that ability. The actual mechanism of how it works is up in the air, and hasn’t been deeply explored to my knowledge. What I imagine is that people say “I need this for x time” and it gets catalogued. If someone tries to check out a luxury item (imagine like a book or something) after the due date, they must return the other item first or has the option to extend the borrowing term as far as needed. Things that would be essential would still be available, but the person gets reminded about their obligation to the community to have the item returned.
As for how it’s different, an everything library can exist in some capacity in all systems. The difference is that a library economy allows for items to be used without cost, and doesn’t commoditize the items. It creates a system of mutual respect towards the rest of the community, and incentivizes groups of people to act creatively together for projects. It functions more like a store where you don’t buy anything and return it to the community, rather than paying money to use a tool for a week. It also incentivizes highly durable, extremely usable objects (imagine the right to repair, but without any anticonsumer behavior)
Imagine instead of buying a wheelbarrow and shovel to do some yard work, you go to the gardening library and checkout the things you need.
I get the sentiment but that sounds awful. Do I need to go borrow a mountain bike every time I want to go for a ride which I now do about 3 times a week? What about my hobby as a maker? Do I need to go borrow all the necessary tools every time I want to build something?
This would basically mean that I get almost nothing done ever because when the inspiration strikes my tools are nowhere to be found.
No not at all! Instead of thinking about this as the only way to get things, think about how you get things now. Just replace stores with libraries. You can own things that you use regularly (basically through an indefinite borrow from the transportation library), but borrow other things as needed
That’s great! I’m willing to bet that they call it “the library of things”, right? Yes, these everything libraries exist already in a small and limited capacity, generally serving a small area. The reason I brought it up is because the library economy is an alternative to capitalism in seeking solutions for climate change.
The reason capitalism would need to end is because capitalism is all about growth for the sake of growth; the ideology of cancer. This means that capitalists aren’t happy with creating what’s necessary, they want to manufacture as much as possible as cheaply as possible to get all of the money. If a library economy exists beside capitalism, it will be attacked and eroded endlessly. Just look at the publishing industry’s attack on libraries for digital media. They’re creating artificial scarcity on digital goods, something that is literally unbound by quantity.
Only just discovered the concept now in this thread but I guess it’d work like any other library. You’d just check out the stuff you need that you choose not to own for what ever reason.
If you want to own a mountain bike because you would use it regularly then that would be fine. But if you need a drill press for a project you can go check one out.
Just guessing here as I’ve done no reading on this subject.
Assuming you aren’t talking about consumable items, then the library would get more from manufacturing them. A library economy doesn’t mean we stop all production, we just produce what’s needed and distribute them to libraries. This has major advantages, like essentially eliminating waste from overproduction, permanently ending planned obsolescence and the incentive to create more durable items, fosters community cohesion, and a lot more. Here’s a more thorough introduction to the topic through the lens of political anarchism, though it could exist in any leftist economy
I’m really having a hard time differentiating this from the current system… You can already own things and already rent things, and already check things out from libraries. Is it about spreading the cost of having/maintaining those items across everyone instead of just the ones using them like in a rental system?
The reason it’s different is because it replaces the other 2 methods serving capital with the 1 option that serves the community. It’s more like a store where you don’t buy anything, but then give those items to the community when you no longer need them. Buy? Rent? Why do those things when you could borrow from the community, help improve it, and then return it to the community? Having a picnic next to the lake? Borrow a cooler for a day! Need to drive across the country? Borrow an electric car for a year! Need something at all times, like a cellphone or a washing machine? Borrow it indefinitely!
Instead of overproducing items at the expense of killing us all in climate crisis, a library economy produces what’s necessary and lets the people decide what’s best for the items through direct democracy and electing library stewards to handle the operation of the library. Nothing is commoditized, nothing prevents you from owning things, and nothing prevents you from building your own things. It incentivizes highly durable, repairable items. It creates the foundation for mutualism and helping each other. Most importantly to me, it creates a society where we no longer have to consider money while also enriching our lives.
There are several ideas out there, but yes they generally require transitioning away from capitalism. The one I’m particularly fond of is called a “library economy”, where we no longer commoditize anything that isn’t consumable. Imagine instead of buying a wheelbarrow and shovel to do some yard work, you go to the gardening library and checkout the things you need. When you’re done in about 3 weeks, you return the items back to the library.
In general though, any planned economy would be far more efficient and less wasteful. Imagine that instead of 30 different TV’s with the exact same panel, there’s 2 or 3 types of tv with that panel. The way Walmart operates is a perfect example of a planned economy.
Library actually sounds nice. Funny you mentioned wheelbarrow, I actually need one for a project, but have no space for one, and hate the idea of buying something I’ll need once. I’ll end up renting one, but would be great to check one out.
My library literally has vacuums. Forcing one system down society’s throat is why socialism ultimately loses the narrative game. It’s a religion.
I don’t see how a library economy would work with a lot of things. Like, if I wanted to do a house cleaning day, I go to the cleaning library and rent a vacuum. But what if I drop something on the floor…I have to check out a vacuum, just to clean it up? Then what if all the vacuums are checked out? It really seems horrible inefficient and a logistical nightmare.
Yeah it’s not really a feasible idea, imo. People are terrible and it would be a classic tragedy of the commons.
The ‘tragedy of the commons’ is very much exaggerated and misunderstood. It is 100% possible to collectively govern commons without a tragedy situation, and there are plenty of examples of it happening in real life. The economist Elinor Ostrom actually won a Nobe Prize in Economics for demonstrating this.
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2012/06/17/elinor-ostroms-work-on-governing-the-commons-an-appreciation/ https://aeon.co/essays/the-tragedy-of-the-commons-is-a-false-and-dangerous-myth
The real tragedy of the commons is that we lost the commons to the wealthy elite. We can govern the commons collectively by ourselves without the need for governments, corporations, or the influence of money. I also have a hard time imagining someone deciding that they need 10 wheelbarrows and taking them all from the library, which can acquire more. Are there people checking out every copy of Harry Potter from a book library just to deprive others from reading it?
A library economy doesn’t mean you can’t also own things. You can own a vacuum, and then borrow a steamer for the big spring cleaning. Or say you’re like me and vacuums aren’t necessary most of the time. Instead of owning one, I could go and get one once a month.
Interesting! Would there be a limit to how much any person can “check out” or for how long? How is this different from renting tools in the current system?
So most of what I see about a library economy is that you can use items indefinitely, and I absolutely think that we should have that ability. The actual mechanism of how it works is up in the air, and hasn’t been deeply explored to my knowledge. What I imagine is that people say “I need this for x time” and it gets catalogued. If someone tries to check out a luxury item (imagine like a book or something) after the due date, they must return the other item first or has the option to extend the borrowing term as far as needed. Things that would be essential would still be available, but the person gets reminded about their obligation to the community to have the item returned.
As for how it’s different, an everything library can exist in some capacity in all systems. The difference is that a library economy allows for items to be used without cost, and doesn’t commoditize the items. It creates a system of mutual respect towards the rest of the community, and incentivizes groups of people to act creatively together for projects. It functions more like a store where you don’t buy anything and return it to the community, rather than paying money to use a tool for a week. It also incentivizes highly durable, extremely usable objects (imagine the right to repair, but without any anticonsumer behavior)
I get the sentiment but that sounds awful. Do I need to go borrow a mountain bike every time I want to go for a ride which I now do about 3 times a week? What about my hobby as a maker? Do I need to go borrow all the necessary tools every time I want to build something?
This would basically mean that I get almost nothing done ever because when the inspiration strikes my tools are nowhere to be found.
No not at all! Instead of thinking about this as the only way to get things, think about how you get things now. Just replace stores with libraries. You can own things that you use regularly (basically through an indefinite borrow from the transportation library), but borrow other things as needed
I can already go to a library and borrow a power tool or a shovel though. No need to end capitalism to do that.
That’s great! I’m willing to bet that they call it “the library of things”, right? Yes, these everything libraries exist already in a small and limited capacity, generally serving a small area. The reason I brought it up is because the library economy is an alternative to capitalism in seeking solutions for climate change.
The reason capitalism would need to end is because capitalism is all about growth for the sake of growth; the ideology of cancer. This means that capitalists aren’t happy with creating what’s necessary, they want to manufacture as much as possible as cheaply as possible to get all of the money. If a library economy exists beside capitalism, it will be attacked and eroded endlessly. Just look at the publishing industry’s attack on libraries for digital media. They’re creating artificial scarcity on digital goods, something that is literally unbound by quantity.
Only just discovered the concept now in this thread but I guess it’d work like any other library. You’d just check out the stuff you need that you choose not to own for what ever reason.
If you want to own a mountain bike because you would use it regularly then that would be fine. But if you need a drill press for a project you can go check one out.
Just guessing here as I’ve done no reading on this subject.
That’s exactly right! Library economics are incredibly simple. You own what you want to own, and borrow what you need
How does it handle things that are borrowed more than they’re returned?
Assuming you aren’t talking about consumable items, then the library would get more from manufacturing them. A library economy doesn’t mean we stop all production, we just produce what’s needed and distribute them to libraries. This has major advantages, like essentially eliminating waste from overproduction, permanently ending planned obsolescence and the incentive to create more durable items, fosters community cohesion, and a lot more. Here’s a more thorough introduction to the topic through the lens of political anarchism, though it could exist in any leftist economy
I’m still skeptical of the idea, but I’ll give that a watch when I have time.
I’m really having a hard time differentiating this from the current system… You can already own things and already rent things, and already check things out from libraries. Is it about spreading the cost of having/maintaining those items across everyone instead of just the ones using them like in a rental system?
The reason it’s different is because it replaces the other 2 methods serving capital with the 1 option that serves the community. It’s more like a store where you don’t buy anything, but then give those items to the community when you no longer need them. Buy? Rent? Why do those things when you could borrow from the community, help improve it, and then return it to the community? Having a picnic next to the lake? Borrow a cooler for a day! Need to drive across the country? Borrow an electric car for a year! Need something at all times, like a cellphone or a washing machine? Borrow it indefinitely!
Instead of overproducing items at the expense of killing us all in climate crisis, a library economy produces what’s necessary and lets the people decide what’s best for the items through direct democracy and electing library stewards to handle the operation of the library. Nothing is commoditized, nothing prevents you from owning things, and nothing prevents you from building your own things. It incentivizes highly durable, repairable items. It creates the foundation for mutualism and helping each other. Most importantly to me, it creates a society where we no longer have to consider money while also enriching our lives.
Don’t Google what planned economies did to the Aral Sea and it’s climatic consequences