Competition is wrong

[Natapoc]

You have a major assumption here, that everybody loves doing something that is productive. Some people don't. Some people would love to just sit on the couch and watch TV or play video games. Not everybody is motivated to be productive, and just because someone loves doing something, doesn't mean they will be good at it. And when I compete, I am not defining myself in terms of someone else; I am trying to be better than someone else, but that doesn't mean I'm defining myself in terms of someone else. It just means that certain parts of me are influenced by what others do.

Further complicating matters is that not everyone shares the same idea on what is productive.

Why would that complicate matters. It's productive if you and/or others find value in it.

As I said, don't let yourself be defined in terms of someone else (which is what competition is)

Choose for yourself. Be your own person: Unique not some boring clone who's primary goal is to be "X" times better at "T" than person Y in the method of person K.

[Naposicilia]

I don't want to work togheter with another company, that said. I don't fit in the communist/socialist idealogy of coorperatism.

[Rick Rollin]

Further complicating matters is that not everyone shares the same idea on what is productive.

Why would that complicate matters. It's productive if you and/or others find value in it.

As I said, don't let yourself be defined in terms of someone else (which is what competition is)

Choose for yourself. Be your own person: Unique not some boring clone who's primary goal is to be "X" times better at "T" than person Y in the method of person K.

Yay! Let lynch some...

[Rick Rollin]

Why would that complicate matters. It's productive if you and/or others find value in it.

As I said, don't let yourself be defined in terms of someone else (which is what competition is)

Choose for yourself. Be your own person: Unique not some boring clone who's primary goal is to be "X" times better at "T" than person Y in the method of person K.

Yay! Let lynch some...

Let me elaborate: Lets say that it was the postbellum south. I am a member of the KKK. I think this is productive. Do you?

[Natapoc]

Yay! Let lynch some...

Let me elaborate: Lets say that it was the postbellum south. I am a member of the KKK. I think this is productive. Do you?

If you do think it's productive then you will do it. It does not matter what I think in regards to your motivation for what you wish to do.

I can try to stop you but that's a whole other discussion.

[Great Nepal]

Further complicating matters is that not everyone shares the same idea on what is productive.

Why would that complicate matters. It's productive if you and/or others find value in it.

As I said, don't let yourself be defined in terms of someone else (which is what competition is)

Choose for yourself. Be your own person: Unique not some boring clone who's primary goal is to be "X" times better at "T" than person Y in the method of person K.

Sure, lets go and invent square wheel. It will be awesome!
I mean, its not like it matters what others think about it, its what we think about it that matters, right?

[Sociobiology]

competition is good in most circumstances, the circumstances if fails at (health, education, law) however happen to be very important.

[Yandere Schoolgirls]

competition is good in most circumstances, the circumstances if fails at (health, education, law) however happen to be very important.

It doesn't fail in any of those subjects, that's like saying that stars don't have gravity because they are not planets.

[The Steel Magnolia]

competition is good in most circumstances, the circumstances if fails at (health, education, law) however happen to be very important.

It doesn't fail in any of those subjects, that's like saying that stars don't have gravity because they are not planets.

Well, if by "fail" you mean a lack of profits, no it doesn't. If by "fail" you mean "fail to do what it was intended to do," then yes, yes it really does, and the cost is just as real as the lack of profits.

[Rick Rollin]

competition is good in most circumstances, the circumstances if fails at (health, education, law) however happen to be very important.

It doesn't fail in any of those subjects, that's like saying that stars don't have gravity because they are not planets.

It doesn't fail in any of those subjects, that's like saying that stars don't have gravity because they are not planets.

Well, if by "fail" you mean a lack of profits, no it doesn't. If by "fail" you mean "fail to do what it was intended to do I want it to do," then yes, yes it really does, and the cost is just as real as the lack of profits.

Corrected.

[The Anglo-Saxon Empire]

competition is good in most circumstances, the circumstances if fails at (health, education, law) however happen to be very important.

I don't see how it fails in any of those areas. The west has very competent doctors because they are constantly competing, a surgeon who has a lot of successful surgeries will be more successful than one that kills all his patients. Private schools generally outperform their shitty public counterparts, also Korea and Japan have pretty good education systems despite a large focus on competition. Hell Korea had to start implementing laws against night schools because children were spending too little time sleeping. Competition in law ensures that everyone gets a fair trial. How would law work cooperatively? Would the defendant's lawyer meet with the prosecutor's lawyer and say "Oh yeah, my guy is totally guilty", because there is a reason lawyers can't decide if their clients go to jail or not and the client gets the final say in everything.

[Cameroi]

i wouldn't say it was entirely wrong for extroverts who might enjoy it, but forcing it on introverts who do not, is, at the very least, damd sure not any kind of freedom.

[Genivaria]

I personally enjoy working with others, but even when I cooperate am I not still competing?
I am just one team member in the kitchen at my job working in concert with my coworkers, trying to each go our fastest in order to allow the others to go faster, the exact same way a tank crew loads another round.

And yet I am competing against the McDonalds next door, and the Pizzeria on the other side.
Is that not what it all really is? Cooperating, in order to effectively compete.

If anything needs to be done, its simply promoting this "all for one and one for all" mentality that emphasizes teamwork and cooperation.

[Indira]

Many, many people (mainly Free Market, Capitalist types) say that people do things for profit, or for self pleasure or they won't do something unless it helps them in some way. This is largely false. Altruism largely disproved this, as does a majority of other human behaviors such as love, kindness, and compassion as well as thousands of other behaviors. Capitalists often point towards competition, and the false, dangerous and unhealthy assumption that if there is competition, everyone will work towards a common goal. This is the most utopianistic hogwash propaganda ever posed by capitalists. Cooperation is a much better way of organizing society than competition could ever dream of. Competition causes stress, anxiety, depression, and many other harmful mental and physical health effects. Cooperation is much better, as it decreases all, or most of these negative health effects.

Why do people support the idiotic vision that "competition is the best! If you're against competition you're against us and human nature!" It's false, as there are many different types of human behavior, and cooperation is ultimately better than competition, as it has no negative health effects, and is a more natural form of society for humanity.

Why? Probably because it works. Very, very well. Just take the telephone companies in Britain. When it was just the state owned monopoly, it took months for new connections to be made. Competition means that you can get it the same day. Spot the difference?

[Natapoc]

Why would that complicate matters. It's productive if you and/or others find value in it.

As I said, don't let yourself be defined in terms of someone else (which is what competition is)

Choose for yourself. Be your own person: Unique not some boring clone who's primary goal is to be "X" times better at "T" than person Y in the method of person K.

Sure, lets go and invent square wheel. It will be awesome!
I mean, its not like it matters what others think about it, its what we think about it that matters, right?

This has absolutely nothing to do with what I said. Do you not realize that?

[Disserbia]

Competition is innate and inevitable, altruism is proof of human evolution.

[Great Nepal]

Sure, lets go and invent square wheel. It will be awesome!
I mean, its not like it matters what others think about it, its what we think about it that matters, right?

This has absolutely nothing to do with what I said. Do you not realize that?

Yes, it does.
You stated "It's productive if you and/or others find value in it". So, if I find value in inventing square wheel: it is productive to spend few million pounds on its production. Hence, it is a good idea to do so right?

[Natapoc]

This has absolutely nothing to do with what I said. Do you not realize that?

Yes, it does.
You stated "It's productive if you and/or others find value in it". So, if I find value in inventing square wheel: it is productive to spend few million pounds on its production. Hence, it is a good idea to do so right?

Who talked about spending "pounds"?

Yes if you find that your passion in life is to make square wheels then go ahead and pursue that passion.

Of course, I know it's not. You are intentionally being ridiculous. But still, if you really enjoyed doing it I am sure it could make a successful art piece if you really put your creativity into it.

Success comes from doing what you enjoy, not from competing against others. You seem to be wanting me to tell you what to do or approve of you doing something. I already told you: You need no approval from anyone.

Competition is allowing yourself to always be defined in terms of someone you think of as your better or at least as a threat to your position in society. Competitive people are never truly happy and they usually suppress their own greatness because they have learned that their value is based on how they "perform" vs how someone else "performs" at a given task.

This is how creative, thinking, wonderful human beings are made into robots that follow orders, never reach their potential, and waste the time they are alive on things they often don't even like to do!

When you have learned that competition is a pointless game of self defeat and paranoia then you can cooperate, to the extend you so desire, with others for mutual goals and not care to set up a ranking system in your mind about who may be better than another at some given thing according to some criteria compared to you.

[New England and The Maritimes]

Yes, it does.
You stated "It's productive if you and/or others find value in it". So, if I find value in inventing square wheel: it is productive to spend few million pounds on its production. Hence, it is a good idea to do so right?

Who talked about spending "pounds"?

Yes if you find that your passion in life is to make square wheels then go ahead and pursue that passion.

Of course, I know it's not. You are intentionally being ridiculous. But still, if you really enjoyed doing it I am sure it could make a successful art piece if you really put your creativity into it.

Success comes from doing what you enjoy, not from competing against others. You seem to be wanting me to tell you what to do or approve of you doing something. I already told you: You need no approval from anyone.

Competition is allowing yourself to always be defined in terms of someone you think of as your better or at least as a threat to your position in society. Competitive people are never truly happy and they usually suppress their own greatness because they have learned that their value is based on how they "perform" vs how someone else "performs" at a given task.

This is how creative, thinking, wonderful human beings are made into robots that follow orders, never reach their potential, and waste the time they are alive on things they often don't even like to do!

When you have learned that competition is a pointless game of self defeat and paranoia then you can cooperate, to the extend you so desire, with others for mutual goals and not care to set up a ranking system in your mind about who may be better than another at some given thing according to some criteria compared to you.

[Vetalia]

Success comes from doing what you enjoy, not from competing against others. You seem to be wanting me to tell you what to do or approve of you doing something. I already told you: You need no approval from anyone.

Many people enjoy competing against others, though.

[New England and The Maritimes]

Success comes from doing what you enjoy, not from competing against others. You seem to be wanting me to tell you what to do or approve of you doing something. I already told you: You need no approval from anyone.

Many people enjoy competing against others, though.

I don't think Nat is proposing stopping them, but rather that we should try our best to realize competition is not a necessary part of our every day lives. If you find some meaning from competing with others, that's your business, but nobody has to measure their "success" by someone else's yardstick.

[Vetalia]

I don't think Nat is proposing stopping them, but rather that we should try our best to realize competition is not a necessary part of our every day lives. If you find some meaning from competing with others, that's your business, but nobody has to measure their "success" by someone else's yardstick.

Well, you don't have to do that now.

[Occupied Deutschland]

Many people enjoy competing against others, though.

I don't think Nat is proposing stopping them, but rather that we should try our best to realize competition is not a necessary part of our every day lives. If you find some meaning from competing with others, that's your business, but nobody has to measure their "success" by someone else's yardstick.

You don't have to do that now though.

I mean, unless you want to demonize someone for competing and happening to make a bunch of money at it and...waitaminute!

[Kronikta]

If there is no competition, then there really isn't any ambition either. Competition gives people the ambition to improve quality on almost every scale. In my opinion, the idea of competition being wrong is completely ludicrous. It is a necessity and is almost always beneficial in some way.

[Natapoc]

If there is no competition, then there really isn't any ambition either. Competition gives people the ambition to improve quality on almost every scale. In my opinion, the idea of competition being wrong is completely ludicrous. It is a necessity and is almost always beneficial in some way.

This is untrue. Competition creates a type of false ambition to be better than someone else.

Sometimes this can be beneficial. Usually it's just wasteful and a drain on everyone involved.

Inventors of things and concepts that are truly new and creative are almost never driven by competition. They are driven by a desire to create.

edit: Also, New England and The Maritimes is right.