Very detailed, and that explains a lot, thank you.

It’s ok, we have hamlets here too. I live in one!

That’s different from anything I’ve seen in the UK. Every house seems to be surrounded with lawns and so spread out, and yet you still need whatever that giant building with the green roof and car park is. Presumably a shop? Why’d you need such a big building for so few people? And why are all the houses detached with no terraces? Very strange…

(All of that was rhetorical, I’m sure it makes sense if that’s what you’re used to. And having more room to spread out and less history to deal with)

Cool, thank you

This is why I was confused. There’s no way that’s a town with so few people (from a UK perspective)

Very detailed, thanks :)

No thanks, America is already confusing enough 👍

A) No, I like my jacket too much. Also I’d just die.

B) Also no. All I carry with me is phone, keys, wallet - all of which are useless on their own.

C) I think I’d like to give this a go. I have a couple of weeks of food in the house, I’ve got all my books. Kinda sucks not having electric once the batteries die - we have solar panels but they’re on a shed roof so all I’d get to take is the batteries and inverter! I’d expect to find potatoes in Peru which I could recognise and know how to turn into food, plus I know (in theory) how to test which plants are edible. My main concerns would be not speaking the language and not having the right skin colour. But I often think about whether it would be fun to live in the wilderness in prehistoric times (or I guess 1300s Peru…) and if I get to keep my books too, that sounds great! I’d probably die in a couple of years, especially if I try to stay alone, but why not try it?

None of the top officials want their skeletons coming out.

I don’t want my skeleton coming out either, I’m using it

It’s ok, you definitely won’t do it again. I’m sure you’ve learned your lesson

Fair enough, that’s better reasoning for your argument (or I just understood you better this time haha). I don’t think I agree with you, because I would share with other people even on scarcity and I like to believe that people, at their core, have the capacity for kindness even in times of stress.

As for your other point about trade and barter, that’s fair enough. Socialism is also an economic system that involves money and trading - the difference is that the workers would cooperatively own their own shops, factories, etc. rather than having a CEO / landlord that just leeches off of the workers as it would be under capitalism.

Gift based economies have existed and do exist, but as you say, usually within small groups. And gifts can also be used as a form of currency in people’s minds, even if there’s no concrete tokens like money that get exchanged.

When scarcity happens, people become selfish, it’s survival of the strongest, and everything falls off the rails and naturally goes to capitalism and hoarding resources.

I take huge exception to this. That is absolutely not the case in my experience. Poor people are often much more generous with their time and resources than rich people. Any given billionaire could give up 1% of their wealth to end hunger in their country, but they don’t. Rich people could give up their holiday homes and empty rental properties to end homelessness, but they don’t. And yet poor people will volunteer in food co-ops, donate to homeless shelters, work extra hours to provide for their families.

naturally goes to capitalism

Capitalism is only around 300 years old, it is absolutely NOT a natural state of affairs for humans. It’s just another way of arranging the economy like mercantilism or socialism.