I think the fundamental reason people latch onto it as "Late Stage" is because they see the future of this way of building a society as very grim. And I am inclined to agree with them.
Capitalism is one thing, but fundamentalist capitalism, which is preached in the US (not followed, mind you, we have lots of monopolies and very closed markets), is something of a horror show of awful virtues. The trick is, capitalism in the US has ALWAYS been a horror show. This country was literally founded on the ideals of slavery and not paying taxes. England wasn't cool with slavery when we founded this nation, but we sure were. If this country wasn't founded on slavery, then the 3/5ths compromise would never have taken place, and we'd have ended the practice at inception.
It is a good thing that we now no longer have an actual price tag on the heads of human beings in this country, but is it really so difficult to see such a thing coming about again, with corporations as the "owners," and individuals as the investment properties? Apple was colluding to keep employee pay down, a few years back, showing this type of behavior already fomenting again.
"Late Stage Capitalism" refers, really, to early stage capitalism as it existed in the US: that view that money is more important than human life. That the only reasonable pursuit of humans is money. It beacons to the hollowness of the American life, where your job defines you more than any other single attribute.
Yes, there is no real alternative in our modern world. The term "Late Stage Capitalism," however, insinuates that there is a solution out there, and we'll be moving on to it sometime in the next couple of decades. What will that be? I personally feel as though we'll splinter into border less societies with their own crypto currencies, populated by people who live in the real world societies as ghosts, without tax-paying jobs or rent paying housing. Some sort of reputation-based world like a Doctorow novel, but with the real government still in place, but being ignored and circumvented by people in a million ways.
Think of this like a game of Civilization. You start as a dictatorship, but you can research better forms of government. Civ always stopped at Democracy, like that was the be all and end all. But that's just because humanity hasn't yet discovered the next good way of organizing large groups for mutual protections. We will, some day.
This is probably the best examination that I (individually) been given on the topic, it makes a lot of sense and with my limited exposure to certain aspects of economic theory, I don't have much to disagree with.
This is the root of my 'head-tilt' at certain arguments against the topic of late stage capitalism. As I mentioned in another comment, I'm often seeing memes and groups that poke sticks at participants and individuals who exist within this late stage versus the systems that enable and provide a continuance for some of the issues that cause people to have a problem with where we are.
I'd love your feed back on my proposal for a kind of post capitalism. It seems to propose some of the things you expect: http://skilesare.github.io/immortality
Capitalism is one thing, but fundamentalist capitalism, which is preached in the US (not followed, mind you, we have lots of monopolies and very closed markets), is something of a horror show of awful virtues. The trick is, capitalism in the US has ALWAYS been a horror show. This country was literally founded on the ideals of slavery and not paying taxes. England wasn't cool with slavery when we founded this nation, but we sure were. If this country wasn't founded on slavery, then the 3/5ths compromise would never have taken place, and we'd have ended the practice at inception.
It is a good thing that we now no longer have an actual price tag on the heads of human beings in this country, but is it really so difficult to see such a thing coming about again, with corporations as the "owners," and individuals as the investment properties? Apple was colluding to keep employee pay down, a few years back, showing this type of behavior already fomenting again.
"Late Stage Capitalism" refers, really, to early stage capitalism as it existed in the US: that view that money is more important than human life. That the only reasonable pursuit of humans is money. It beacons to the hollowness of the American life, where your job defines you more than any other single attribute.
Yes, there is no real alternative in our modern world. The term "Late Stage Capitalism," however, insinuates that there is a solution out there, and we'll be moving on to it sometime in the next couple of decades. What will that be? I personally feel as though we'll splinter into border less societies with their own crypto currencies, populated by people who live in the real world societies as ghosts, without tax-paying jobs or rent paying housing. Some sort of reputation-based world like a Doctorow novel, but with the real government still in place, but being ignored and circumvented by people in a million ways.
Think of this like a game of Civilization. You start as a dictatorship, but you can research better forms of government. Civ always stopped at Democracy, like that was the be all and end all. But that's just because humanity hasn't yet discovered the next good way of organizing large groups for mutual protections. We will, some day.