/edu/ - Education

>>2980
Depends how smart you are. Capital is pretty easy (the language of the first chapter is quite difficult though. Honestly just skip it and come back later), if you have read any classical economics go for capital right now.

If you want the most basic Marx reading I'd recommend Critique of the Gotha program, as it's very basic and easy to read. In general I find Engels/Lenin is easier to digest. To understand the philosophical background, I recommend this short read
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1886/ludwig-feuerbach/index.htm

After this and the first 2 books the other guy recommend, I think you would be more than ready to read Capital.

But it does depend on the angle you're going for, if you're interested in philosophy, definitely read Hegel. However if you're interested in economics, as it seems, I would deem Hegel a waste of your time right now and just read the link I sent. From philosophy you need to be well acquainted with these terms though as a Marxist (start from the link I sent)
-idealism
-materialism
-dialectics

>>2986
>>2987
thanks for effortposts comrades

>>2980
In regards to philosophy, I'm a layman myself, but please don't start with the Greeks it's a meme. They are not relevant anymore the few things that are relevant get repeated and explained by modern philosophers enough. Start with the young Hegelian: Marx, Engels, Feuerbach and Stirner. And from there on you can read whatever you like. A personal recommendation from me would be the early Frankfurt school and Bakunin, but it's just what I enjoy the most.

Read Smith, then Capital. Nothing else is needed IMO.

I asked this on /leftypol/ but I think I'll get an answer here:

Is there a consensus on which English translation of Capital is best? I have a paper version of the Moore and Aveling translation but I'm considering getting a different one (Fowkes I guess), since this one is too bulky and I've heard about quite a few translation errors in it. Is it worth being picky over the mistranslations? I'm just worried that I'll fail to notice the errors and then pick up a wrong interpretation of Marx.

>>2056
The irony is that Stalin's paranoia about the fragility of the communist project is what made the project so fragile.

>>2309
Considering that it lasted more than 2x his life-time and was the second world superpower of its time… nope.

>>2316
Considering that people starved in the 30s and eventually it failed… yep.

>>2339
Considering natural and regular famines were eliminated (along with homelessness, illiteracy, etc.) and only came back after US neoliberal sabotage… nope.

The Soviet Union wasn't perfect, but if you compare it with most third world government then AND now, it was surprisingly functional and much better. Are people who criticize the Soviet Union all rich cunts from the third world and fist world middle upper class? Nigga, they're kidnapping our sisters and daughters and selling them, we're getting shot at on the regular, either by "clean cops", regular dirty cops, drug dealers, by petty thieves who are usually kids, by politicians who don't like "activists", we're getting run over by cars, dying from shitty food (because healthy food is expensive), overwork, stress, anxiety, lack of access to medicine and medics. All these things did not exist for the majority of the people in the soviet union for the vast majority of its existence.

Yeah maybe Stalin was a paranoid cunt and a totalitarian leader, but ffs, the quality of life was much much better than it is now for MOST OF US. Fucking privileged pricks, I swear.

>>2054
> a better critique of the soviet gulags and other abuses under the Soviet system, without falling to anti-communist propaganda, I recommend The Revolution Betrayed by Leon Trotsky.
LOL the same Trotsky who referred to Stalin as an uncultured beast… push off

>>1815
Yes, look at your own map, most blue countries/regions are descended from Europe: Canada, US, Argentina, Europe, Russia, Australia. China and Japan are outliers, if anything it proves that one can train for the test, and that is what they do, they literally train how to take these standardised tests. Both China and Japan have cultures where academic success is respected and something that people strive for, so of course those countries will have higher test AVERAGES, because there are simply more of them who do well.

IQ is a bit meh. Of course, there are various aspects to what is considered intelligence; so even if you have good measures for the aspects, it's somewhat arbitrary how you weight them. Extremely bad results can tell you whether somebody is disabled. We know IQ tests aren't perfect, the weighting issue aside. There are programs for solving IQ tests, yet this doesn't give us a general simulation of human intelligence.

The way IQ talk is used in political discussion – as a cause, not as both cause and effect – is asinine. If you are malnourished and live in a polluted area, you get brain-damage from that, no matter how great your genetic potential is.

There is some correlation between very good IQ results and doing well in school. But it doesn't make sense to obsess over two people being ten or fifteen points apart. IQ test results are NOT stable over life, that's a big lie that I suspect people tell who know better and who want to score above the herd. You can definitely practice for these tests and improve by twenty to thirty points. I don't think you can get from 80 to 150 though.

>>1810
Your argument about test-making and solving assumes a symmetry that isn't there. I can create a vocabulary test against a dictionary without having perfect memory about what's in the dictionary myself. I can set a higher time-limit for myself as a test-maker than I allow for the test-taker and I can allow myself to use certain tools that I don't allow the test-takers to use. I can make very hard puzzles about shoving pieces around by going backwards from the solution, that doesn't mean I can solve puzzles of similar complexity myself. It's easier to multiply prime numbers than to be shown the result of that multiplication and having to find the prime numbers from that.

>>1810
>IQ was designed in the same way, European (white) males are taken to be the standard against which others are tested.
I’m not incredibly pro IQ or anything but this is such a bullshit argument. IQ was created by the school board to identify students with learning disabilities.

>>3036
>IQ was created by the school board to identify students with learning disabilities.
The original IQ test as created by Binet, yes, it was meant to identify children with learning disabilities. But then the Americans took it, and created the Stanford-Binet scale, among others. That is the IQ test we talk about and know today.

I'm not talking out of my ass, I got my info from pic related. It's a good book and you should read it.

>Your argument about test-making and solving assumes a symmetry that isn't there.
My point is that the test (actually, in the beginning there were two tests, for literate and illiterate people, it's actually a very interesting story, but I digress) was designed in a way that it presented people with problems and then timed them on how fast they're able to complete the tasks, if at all. Now, why would the test-creator assign tasks that he himself cannot solve?

The original IQ test asked things about days of the week, about American culture, asked them about radio, etc. basically, it tested white, middle-class intelligence. Poor whites also did poorly on the tests. The test didn't test "intelligence", but integration into American society, it asked questions that the test-makers knew the answer to.

And I ask again, how can someone ask a question they themselves can't answer and then judge someone on the validity of that answer?

>>3042
>how can someone ask a question they themselves can't answer and then judge someone on the validity of that answer?
That question was already answered ITT, you are just too dumb to get it :/

>>2547
>industrial capital merges together with bank capital, creates financial capital
>creating of trusts, monopolies, bourgeois unions, and so on
>trusts destroy and choke the competition, capital centralizes even further
>centralization means monopoly over natural resources
>regional goes national, national goes international
>biggest firms own the capital in other countries, exploits further their resources and labor force
>world is now partitioned between the most developed capitalist states. further repartitions will cause wars
>imperialism

Correct me if I missed something, comrades.

>>3011
You missed the part about the banking hegemony where countries are invaded when they stop using the dominant financial transaction system. You know like in Libya the first thing the counter revolutionaries did was create a new central bank to undo the Gold-dinar that Gaddafi had implemented. I think this is a relatively recent development of imperialism.

>>3012
Monopolies became entrenched around the late 1800s before the formation of our modern credit system. A credit system which Lenin nor Marx could not commentate on as the the gold standard had not been dropped in place of the US dollar yet. Libya's threat to the US dollar would lower the demand for the US dollar and weaken its purchasing power. The US has a trade deficit, thus its dollars flood foreign markets, particularly those which it extracts value from. Its military opens up new markets and creates more capital in the process of capital accumulation.
Michael Hudson explains this much better than I can, and he is foremost the leading economist in formulation of American imperialism and the debt economy.

>>2968
Thank you anon this was actually very helpful. I appreciate you taking the time to lay this out for me.

>>2969
You're very welcome, I won't be doing the course but will check here regularly to help the best I can!

What's the point of learning this bourgeois mathematics? How will it ever help the working class?

>>3006
This is the language of how the planet is *actually* run. Without this we would never be able to run world wide distribution networks (read Cockshott)

>>3006
I hope you're baiting lol

here's the obvious one

>>1239
Are these letters soyfacing?

>>2993
Brain damage as a result of forced memes.

>>1239
These are not books entirely about what you requested but there is good info on Operation Gladio and the Marshall Plan in these PDFs

>>2993
someone make a tronti soyfacing wojak
>>2998
thank you! I really appreciate it

best video to teach you these things
https://youtu.be/8wAYb-PnRGY

>>2247
BUY HIGH

SELL LOW

>>2243
For crypto, if you sign up on Coinbase it gives you a bunch of opportunities to get free crypto.
Basically it let's you watch 'informational courses' that are ads that shill for any given particular shitcoin, and then gives you anywhere from $10-$50 USD in that shitcoin.
Then it's just the investment game.
You can do buy-low-sell-high since you've a fair amount of startup coin, or you could try to follow 'market trends,'
which in the realm of crypto is literally just scamming.
Crypto is literal speculation around fucking monopoly money, it has no actual point, but there's still a shitton that can be made off of it.
Even the retarded belief in meme-magic that /biz/ believes gives any given shitcoin value is to some extent true, as when they meme the coin, people start buying the coin, thus giving the coin value.
It's all ponzi schemes for crypto, so if you stay on top of the schemes and scams, you can make a pretty penny.
Real stocks are of course (slightly) less fake, so that's a bigboy game I am far less knowledgeable about.

Don't listen to any of these faggots.
The real money is made through placing well informed and strategic option calls. You need at least 1k of savings to do it effectively from my understanding and massive cahones.

>>2271
Explain option calls.

just do this for 30 years

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Lazy_portfolios#Three_fund_lazy_portfolios

microeconomics is basically pseudoscience on the same tier as Jungian psychoanalysis. it’s all just speculation without any falsifiability. I don’t think it’s intentional, just that lolberts and neolibs are too divorced from reality to see it.

>>2543
I understand that as the majority of microeconomics, and economics as a whole, is divorced from political economy. Microeconomics particularly ignores any repucussions to society; instead focusing on a framework of atomised firms. Ideology is left to fill in gaps. Particularly, the emhasis on exchange value ("commodity fetishism") which I would argue the majority of macroeconomics seems to make the mistake as well. The gravitas of value is simply underestimated at best.

Micro/macro split has been shrinking in relevance since the Lucas critique. It isn't really a thing anymore.

>>2937
US colleges still split into separate classes

>>2959
They're different lenses suited for different problems but micro still acknowledges the wider society and macro still acknowledges the individual. The perspectives aren't at odds.

How does the stock market work? Am I wrong in assuming that it has no direct link with the earnings of companies? Earnings go down, people expect other people to sell so stocks go down? Is that literally it? Because that sounds insane even for capitalist standards.

>>1645
It’s the same thing as a share except you don’t get any power over capital from it, but it still gets its exchange-value from the company through regular stock buybacks that basically “back” the stock (similar to how you back a currency, except the stock itself is being backed by a currency)

>>1645
A company can raise capital by selling ownership shares to the public in the primary market (investors pay company). The public can then exchange shares on the secondary market (investors pay investors). People don't know how much a company is worth or is going to be worth so they take a guess on the price to sell their shares or to buy another's shares. This guess is partly based on news on the company and the economy in general. People are going to rush to buy shares if they think they're undervalued and the sellers are going to raise their prices to capitalize. People are going to trip over each other selling shares at reduced prices if they think they're undervalued. Minute-to-minute price changes reflect changes in people's estimation of a company's value.

>>2914
&lt4. Farmland species diversity is damaged
In addition to the accelerated loss of the diversity of major crops and their cultivars, the biodiversity of animals, plants, microorganisms, etc., which are closely related to agriculture, with farmland or soil environment as the core, has also been damaged. Many beneficial animals, marsh wet or aquatic plants, The species or population structure of insects, natural enemies of pests, fungi, bacteria, etc. have undergone significant changes, and their numbers have decreased significantly or disappear forever. The number of pest species and populations has increased sharply, and the abundance of farmland biodiversity has declined significantly. The United Nations report pointed out that in recent years, bee populations, which are closely related to crop pollination and yield, are dying out at an alarming rate, especially in the northern hemisphere. In the past 20 years, the number of bees in the United States and Europe has decreased by 30% and 10%-30%, respectively, while the size of bee populations in the Middle East has shrunk by more than 85%.

In China, many studies and a large number of empirical evidence have shown that the population of beneficial organisms or natural enemies of pests represented by birds, snakes, insects, earthworms, nematodes and ants is rapidly shrinking, while rodents are typical pests. The population density has soared, and some major agricultural and forestry diseases and pests have continued to increase, and the damage has increased. The types or numbers of aquatic animals, insects, frogs, earthworms, algae, weeds, and soil organisms in the southern rice field ecosystem have decreased significantly, and diversity has gradually been lost.

&lt5. The invasion of alien organisms is raging
With the continuous deepening of global economic integration and the intensification of climate change, in recent years, the degree of damage from alien biological invasions worldwide has increased day by day, and more than 100 species of alien invasive organisms are recognized internationally as the most threatening. At present, there are 544 species of alien organisms invading China, of which 100 are more severely harmful, and more than 50 are internationally recognized as the most threatening invasive species. The direct economic losses caused by 11 invasive agricultural aPost too long. Click here to view the full text.

>>2915
The agricultural crisis: excellent work
(TL note. excellent work ~ good practice)
Trying to explore the main inducing factors of the agricultural biodiversity crisis:　　

&lt1. lagging in thinking and understanding
One is the weak sense of crisis. For a long time, due to the limitations of understanding of nature and the objective world, the appearance of abundance of natural resources, and the deviation or misleading of public opinion, humans, especially Chinese, and even governments and management departments at all levels have a blind sense of superiority. , Resources and environmental concerns and sense of crisis are seriously lacking, and further foreshadowed the destruction of biodiversity and ecological environment.

Second, the development concept is lagging behind. Long-term poverty and backwardness, material deprivation, and stagnant economic development have made the Chinese people excessively strong desire to get rid of poverty and become prosperous. Utilitarianism is so prevalent, the color is so strong that it is too short-sighted, and one-sided pursuit of economic aggregate scale and growth rate or unrealistic "leapfrog." Development, while ignoring the inherent quality and efficiency of development and resources and environmental costs.

At the same time, misunderstanding the true meaning of development, simply equating "development" with growth, and blindly focusing on immediate benefits, temporary benefits, partial benefits and short-term benefits, which are scientific, harmonious, balanced, inclusive, and sustainable for development. The overall coordination and balance of sex and "people-oriented" lack sufficient understanding.

The third is superficial understanding. Based on objective reasons such as the gradual, concealed, long-term and complex nature of the loss of biodiversity, many managers, especially farmers, and even scientific and technical personnel have not yet truly fully understood and grasped the importance of biodiversity in resource and environmental protection. And the important position, role and far-reaching significance in the construction of ecological civilization.

Or still stay at the initial level of “pollution control” and “forest protection”, lacking basic knowledge or little understanding of the concept, connotation, and importance of deeper biological diversiPost too long. Click here to view the full text.

>>2916
&lt3. Extensive agricultural and rural production and management
One is the lagging development concept. Throughout the ages, from foreign to domestic, scientific research to production, obtaining the highest or higher agricultural output has always been the primary goal and even the ultimate goal of people's diligent pursuit. However, excessive, blind or one-sided pursuit of temporary yield indicators, immediate benefits, or short-term efficiency and efficiency has prompted people to rush to make manual selection and "survival of the fittest" from the start of the cultivation of new agricultural varieties, leading to the intensification of production links. Professional and large-scale operation and management. Large-scale simplification has continuously promoted the cultivation of high-yield "good" varieties and "unscrupulous" supplemented by all comprehensive measures for breeding and cultivation that capture high yields, ensure a bumper harvest and increase benefits, while ignoring the protection of germplasm resources and genetic diversity, and despising the ecological environment and The protection of industrial diversity ignores the long-term, continuity and scientific nature of production increase, growth or development.

The second is the predatory development of agricultural natural resources. Based on the deviation of development concept and the limitation of understanding, the desire to pursue output value, increase income and efficiency, and get rid of poverty and get rich is too strong, and the objective reality of the belief of "relying on mountains to eat mountains, relying on water to draft water" has led to the destruction of forests and reclamation of wasteland from the sea (lake). (Land), blindly introducing species and disorderly development of wildlife resources, and other chaotic phenomena, such phenomena as indiscriminate logging, indiscriminate cultivation, indiscriminate grazing, indiscriminate harvesting, and indiscriminate introduction have been repeatedly prohibited. At the same time, rural construction is disorderly and out of standard, land utilization rate is seriously low, lack of planning, scattered layout, blind comparison, greed for foreign, over-occupation of cultivated land and extravagant waste and other undesirable tendencies coexist, resulting in a negative impact on agricultural resources, environment andPost too long. Click here to view the full text.

>>2917
&lt5. Climate change and natural disasters
At present, global climate change is becoming more and more intense, natural disasters are frequent, and the impact is becoming more extensive and far-reaching. The continuous warming of climate and the dramatic changes in rainfall in time and space, on the one hand, can directly change the survival and development of agricultural organisms and the geographical distribution range, intensify the process of coastal soil salinization and swamping, and cause the shrinkage of agricultural habitats. On the other hand, it destroys the original agricultural ecosystem and agricultural biodiversity. Extremely severe droughts, rapid droughts and floods, rare storms (snow), sandstorms, low temperatures and freezing, high temperatures and heat, mudslides, etc., dominated by extreme abnormal weather and natural disasters are frequent and frequent, which has caused and is bringing direct damage to the agricultural ecological environment Or destroy, exacerbate the agricultural biodiversity crisis.

>>2918
Conclusion: Crisis
In summary, China’s agricultural biodiversity crisis has quietly arrived and is becoming increasingly severe. Its causes are complex and multifaceted. It is not only closely related to direct, subjective, and controllable human factors, but also has objective and irresistible natural forces. Comprehensive role. But in the final analysis, human activities or man-made damage are the most fundamental reasons that lead to and aggravate the loss or crisis of agricultural biodiversity. It is the inevitable result of people's long-term deviation from objective natural laws, eagerness for quick success, and blind development. At the same time, the process of biodiversity loss is gradual, continuous, hidden, complex and irreversible, and its impact is extensive, profound, serious and lasting. Therefore, it is urgent to examine, understand, and protect agricultural biodiversity with a global vision, an international background, and the sustainable development of human society; only to fully respect nature, conform to nature, and respect nature, and completely transform the old, backward and unconventional. The rational traditional development concept and the extensive and inefficient development model, and the establishment and consistency of the scientific and sustainable "five major" new development concepts can effectively guarantee the agricultural biodiversity and ecological environment safety, as well as the harmony and co-prosperity of man and nature.

>About the author: Jiang Gaoming, researcher and doctoral supervisor of the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, professor of the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, former deputy secretary-general of the China Biodiversity Conservation Foundation, deputy secretary-general of the National Committee of the Chinese People and the Biosphere, and deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Ecological Society , Is currently the deputy editor-in-chief of "Journal of Plant Ecology" and editorial board member of "Acta Ecologica".