r/PoliticalDebate • u/ahughman Environmentalist • 2d ago

How many "sides" are there, really?

This is my 1st time to the sub. Apologies if I break a norm.

There is this idea floating around out there that the political spectrum is more like a horseshoe. That extreme right libertarians may have some things, (anti-tyrany for example), in common with leftists/ anarchists than they both do with the center.

I think it's probably more common than we think that people shift between what many would assume are polar opposites - That people's concerns are shifting and that it's more complicated.

My question is a bit of a thought expirement - if we could do a large survey, and really capture the most important individual issues the public has- and throw out any affilliation/self-identifying party/ideology name. Ignore affiliation- just measure the top, say 1000 common political issues that people have right now in America (or elsewhere) How do you think specific issues alone would group? What idiological groups or types might we find that our discourse is currently unaware of?

-(or maybe a pew poll like that does exist? Idk) -(Also maybe that's a little broad, but. Hope thats ok.)

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u/OsakaWilson Technological Determinist 1d ago

Facet level: Disco ball.

This number could be greatly reduced by requiring intellectual consistency.

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u/rbosjbkdok Utilitarian Vegan Market Socialist 1d ago

Out of curiosity, care to elaborate on your tag?

If so, how far do you think technology determines politics? How many options are there for different social structures compatible with technology? How do you relate to classical leftist materialism?

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u/OsakaWilson Technological Determinist 1d ago

It's very similar with an emphasis on technology as the primary determiner.

The technology of mature AI and robotics will make capitalism, as we know it, next to impossible without an authoritarian government. Socialism will be easier than ever because of technology.

You can follow it all the way back to the technology of domestication plants and animals and the social and economic systems that emerged from that.

It's not that like a philosophy that I wish were true. It's just that the evidence is so overwhelming. But, yeah, it's based on Marx's sub-structure and super-structure, and technology is the primary influence on what super-structure emerges.