What does it mean to you to be English?

[ks.234]

I've already said, no. Read what I wrote. I'm not typing it all again.

You said the Industrial Revolution was something to be proud of. You said it several times.

When I said the IR was far to compromised to be worthy of pride, you said “no, it is not”.

Now you seem to be saying that you’re not proud of the IR.

 

[stevec67]

You said the Industrial Revolution was something to be proud of. You said it several times.

When I said the IR was far to compromised to be worthy of pride, you said “no, it is not”.

Now you seem to be saying that you’re not proud of the IR.

No I'm not saying that. You are conflating a load of stuff, and you clearly haven't bothered to read anything I typed previously so I'm damned if I'm typing it again for you.

 

[gavreid]

More on drinking culture...

Britain has a problem that it won’t face up to: children’s dangerous relationship with alcohol​

Gary Nunn

With young people in the UK far more likely to drink than those in other countries, and adult overconsumption treated as a joke, it’s clear: we are a nation in denial

Britain has a problem that it won’t face up to: children's dangerous relationship with alcohol | Gary Nunn

With young people in the UK far more likely to drink than those in other countries, it’s clear: we are a nation in denial, says journalist Gary Nunn

www.theguardian.com

 

[Jim Audiomisc]

The exploitation was already firmly in place before the IR. The IR didn't invent exploitation.

For many it replaced 'low wages' with 'no wages'. Again, what AI owner by the ultra-wealthy may well do if we allow them to do it as suits them.

 

[PaulMB]

For many it replaced 'low wages' with 'no wages'. Again, what AI owner by the ultra-wealthy may well do if we allow them to do it as suits them.

What the "digital revolution" did by replacing your good old, cuddly cigar-smoking capitalist with deranged teenagers who own half the world and have more power than national governments.

 

[ks.234]

The Industrial Revolution gave us Adam Smith, and Adam Smith gave is the idea that markets naturally tend towards equilibrium if left alone. An instanility was due to exogenous causes like a war or a famine. Government‘s job was merely to tweak the economy to compensate.

The same equilibrium assumption informs economic models used today.

Despite two global economic crashes and any number of serious recessions with endogenous causes.

The problem is that it is the very pursuit of economic stability that causes the instability that leads to periodic recession and collapse. At least according to one of the few economists to predict 2008. He certainly describes our current decline into economic ruin and fascism with uncanny accuracy despite having died 3 decades ago

For me to take pride in anything from the past it has to have relevance in today. Adam Smith and our economic inheritance are from the 18th c IR, but while having pride of place in the minds of many, they really need reassessing in the light of modern times and a modern democracy.

(Democracy itself is an unforeseen consequence of the Industrial Rev, and something we should take pride in today, but that’s another story)