My definition of “capitalism” is:

An economy with capital markets (in addition to markets in goods and services).

Most of my friends and acquaintances generally don’t have a precise definition of “capitalism”, but use the word to mean something like:

The economic status quo.

Before I realized this, these different definitions of “capitalism” led to conversations that were a lot less productive than they could have been. I argued from the pro-capitalist position, relying on an abstract view of economic systems, they argued from an anti-capitalist position, motivated by concerns about concrete problems like economic inequality, and we ended up talking past each other.

Not all socialists are socialist

This semantic underdetermination (or, in simpler terms, vagueness) isn’t just relevant to laypeople. For example, the leftist economist Thomas Piketty advocates a series of reforms, including a steep wealth tax that would prohibit dynastic wealth, that he bundles under the name “participatory socialism”. None of these reforms is to abolish capital markets (or markets in goods and services).

Some political parties, such as France’s Parti socialiste, use the term “socialism” interchangeably with “social democracy”, which is a reformist school of thought that does not call for the abolition of capital markets. Other political parties, like Norway’s Sosialistisk Venstreparti, seem to prevaricate between social democracy and revolutionary socialism or Marxism.

This helps explain why a Pew Research survey found that 44% of Americans aged 18-29 had a positive view of socialism, while only 40% had a positive view of capitalism. Among Democrats in the same age bracket, 58% had a positive view of socialism versus 29% for capitalism. I doubt that Marxism-Leninism is that popular in America. These people more likely have in mind the Nordic model than the Soviet Union.

The economics of the long-term future

Supposing superhuman AGI is invented this century or, alternatively, radical human brain upgrades become possible, economic growth will presumably accelerate and the productivity and automation of labour will presumably increase dramatically. In this scenario, it’s not clear if the already tenuous “capitalism”/“socialism” distinction will hold. Particularly if policies like universal basic income and universal basic inheritance are enacted, it’s unclear if we will still rec...

Philosophy