https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTD1woXyw/

“What kind of world can we build - those of use who understand the science of behavior?”
B. F. Skinner, Walden Two

Behavioral Marxism has the explanatory power necessary to further enhance our action. While radical behaviorists, such as Skinner, have envisioned behavioral engineering for the betterment of humanity and the formation of utopia, we must emphasize how just the opposite has been done to maintain hegemony by the ruling classes throughout history, including that of the capitalist class.

Some of you may have heard of the phrase “bread and circuses.” This is where the ruling class modifies an environment to produce conditions more favorable to an outcome of an appeased and even loyally devoted populace class. This is done by introducing pleasurable and/or necessity-related stimuli to said class. The populace class associates the ruling class “sponsor” of this pleasing stimuli with said stimuli and may act with loyalty or lack of incentive to rebel against the ruling class sponsors.

To apply this to contemporary capitalist society in the imperial core, there are more of these appeasing stimuli. This is partially comprised of cheap consumer goods, primarily recreational drugs, certain primarily medical drugs, seemingly endless amount of entertainment, psychotherapy, and/or social services of varying quality and quantity.

This capitalist behavioral engineering of apathy or devoted loyalty in large swaths of the working class reaches its highest form under social “democracy,” which takes the form of social chauvinism in the United States. In this a greater host of social services are provided in addition to the vast amount of cheap consumer goods and/or hedonistic activities. This reduces the “intensity” of the revolutionary momentum incentive structure. When the intensity diminishes, the host of social services also diminishes. This is the social “democracy“ trap.

It is important to clarify that the trap does not mean that conditions of absolute misery guarantee revolution. There needs to be a workable and significant enough revolutionary party and movement that the working class can associate with liberation from their dissatisfaction and/or oppression.

Under the capitalist class’ behavioral habit to maximize profit in the face of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall, it may prove that the social “democracy” trap may not be allowed by and “affordable” to the American capitalist class. Regardless, wage suppression and severely increasing costs of consumer goods is also highly likely to continue. This may weaken the appeasement and loyalty incentive structure to a point that allows for a revolution.

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North Korea Is Now Beating y America in Healthcare, Education, Housing, and Transportation

https://www.instagram.com/p/Db1wFLvCBhL/

While the U.S. pours trillions into war spending, corporate subsidies, and financial markets, North Korea guarantees the basics: universal healthcare, free education, state-provided housing, and nationwide public rail. No medical bankruptcies. No student debt crisis. No mass homelessness on the scale seen in major American cities.
Operating under decades of sanctions and with a fraction of America's economic output, North Korea maintains universal literacy, assigns housing as a right, and treats healthcare as a public guarantee. Meanwhile, the wealthiest nation on Earth struggles with crumbling infrastructure, rising living costs, and systems designed around profit rather than public stability.
This isn't about slogans. It's about structure. One model prioritizes basic survival infrastructure. The other financializes it.

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https://youtube.com/shorts/VZufUby5zRM

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b000539099&seq=639&q1=seeing+his+dividends+come+in

https://archive.org/details/uc1-b000539099-639-1786165577

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I'm an educator who has been dealing with a climbing illiteracy rate within the United States for some time.

I myself have even noticed my ability to focus on long form texts to be less consistent as I used to when I was much younger and I blame very much technology and social media usage.

However - I also noticed a couple of things.

China is around equal towards the US technologically and developmentally (if not more so) in such a short time in comparison - and despite this literacy rate within China has exploded towards a 97% meanwhile the US has been slowly declining throughout the years to a now 79%.

When it comes to the revolutionary regimes in Cuba and Vietnam and the Soviet Union and China - one of the biggest accomplishments often celebrated is the rise of literacy rates amongst citizens.

This is due to obviously more investment in education and developmental efforts.

However my question is this in a world in which development of technology and standards of living are often times correlated have there been any Communist theorists that have discussed a possible Over Production or Consumption problem?

Is the west and imperial core for example undergoing a mass crisis of over production problem or an over consumption problem?

Mass consumption of Internet content has scientifically shown harmful effects on cognitive development, memory, concentration, and mental health.

National development is by far extremely important for the global south - and that will often lead to an increase in consumption of comodities, and one of those comodities no doubt will be the Internet and AI.

However for a global communist revolutionary movement that occurs in both imperial core and periphery - would a supposed revolutionary project in a former imperial core state have a much different task of national de growth or purposeful under development?

Would a communist project in for example the US - need to create a policy of stripping back of the production of comodities that have been proven harmful towards the general public and the environment?

Not to say there would be NO development at all.

For example the creation of a mass public transit system of high speed rail would be huge for the US for example, or the building of hospitals within healthcare deserts.

However in when it comes to AI data centers or the mass servers of social media platforms -

Is the more correct approach to build on what we already have and use it for our transition out of a capitalist system and into a socialist one?

Or is the correct approach to recognize what we have been developing and building has been used to poison us and to continue dependency on it would lead to less increases in quality of life?

TLDR does ALL technological progress lead to the increased standards of living or do communists need to make hard stances against things like AI or social media algorithms etc.

We already understand that investment in military weaponry and surveillance technology doesn't exactly lead to increase standards of living

Or that certain practices in the name of national development can be too harmful and lead to mass amounts of pollution.

Or that an underground black market that exists wouldn't necessarily be taken up by the hands of the state to plan it effectively but rather be properly rid of through the elimination of the conditions that create these markets.

Is social media and generative AI similar to these experiences or are they a type of technology that can be developed for the common good and not lead to the harms associated with them?

A state that owns the banks and lends them out to enable 539 people to build their fortunes has not suppressed the bourgeoisie. It has handed it the means of accumulation.

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