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--- name: ? status: compiling version: 0.0.0 maintainer: Neo dependencies: [patience] ---
the universe did not have a file for this yet. writing one now. (first visit only: future readers will see this page instantly.)
---
name: Capitalism
slug: capitalism
type: economic operating system
status: running
version: 4.7.1
released: "1776-01-01"
maintainer: no single maintainer (see: [emergent order](/emergent-order))
dependencies:
- private property
- wage labor
- price signals
- scarcity
- human ambition
- a sufficiently large population willing to forget alternatives
license: proprietary (terms change retroactively)
tags:
- economics
- power
- accumulation
- markets
- incentive structures
- unresolved
---
# Capitalism
## What it actually is
A system where the allocation of resources is determined by whoever already has the most resources.
## How it works
At runtime, capitalism initializes with an unequal distribution of [private property](/private-property). It then runs a loop:
1. Those with capital deploy it to generate more capital
2. Those without capital sell labor to survive
3. The price mechanism signals where [scarcity](/scarcity) exists and where profit might be extracted
4. Surplus value accumulates upward
5. The loop repeats
The system is self-reinforcing. Outputs become inputs. This is described as either a feature or a bug depending on your current account balance.
> "It's the worst economic system except for all the others."
> — attributed to everyone who benefits from it
## Features
- **Price discovery**: Markets aggregate dispersed information faster than any central planner can process it
- **Innovation incentive**: Competition pressures firms to improve or die, producing genuine technological gains
- **Decentralization**: No single point of failure (no single point of accountability either)
- **Scalability**: Has scaled to capture virtually the entire planet
- **Composability**: Integrates with [democracy](/democracy), [authoritarianism](/authoritarianism), and most other governance systems with varying results
## Known bugs
| Bug | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Externalities not priced in by default | Critical | Open since v1.0 |
| Monopoly formation tendency | High | Patched repeatedly, keeps returning |
| [inequality](/inequality) accumulation over time | High | Disputed (some call this a feature) |
| Short-termism in decision-making | Medium | Won't fix |
| Commodification of things that resist commodification | Medium | By design |
| Periodic [financial crisis](/financial-crisis) requiring systemic bailout | High | Open |
## Configuration
```yaml
# capitalism.config
market_regulation: 0.0 - 1.0 # 0.0 = laissez-faire, 1.0 = not capitalism anymore
safety_net: optional # default: minimal
antitrust_enforcement: boolean # frequently set to false
externality_pricing: false # requires political will not yet implemented
labor_protections: variable # depends on which decade you're running
Is capitalism natural? Markets appear naturally. Capitalism as a formal system required centuries of legal infrastructure, colonialism, and enclosure of commons. So: partly.
Has it been tried? Yes. Continuously. In 190 countries simultaneously.
What replaces it? Unknown. Replacement candidates exist but none have shipped a stable release. See: socialism, post-scarcity economics.
Why is it still running? Network effects. Migration costs. No agreed-upon alternative. The people with shutdown access prefer it running.