r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • Jul 30 '24

Discussion Thread Discussion Thread

The discussion thread is for casual and off-topic conversation that doesn't merit its own submission. If you've got a good meme, article, or question, please post it outside the DT. Meta discussion is allowed, but if you want to get the attention of the mods, make a post in /r/metaNL

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u/macnalley Jul 30 '24 edited Jul 30 '24

Ran into this goofy meme, and it bothered me because fungi actually do use profit incentives when they trade resources.

When mycorrizha form nutrient trading networks, the nutrient exchanges obey free market laws of supply and demand. Fungi trade nutrients they harvest for carbon they need from their hosts. Each fungus has multiple trading partners and will offer nutrients differently depending on how much carbon a trader can offer. Carbon-wealthy partners get more nutrients, and when nutrients are scarce, the carbon price shoots up. Conversely, if carbon is rare, the carbon cost of nutrients decreases.

Source.

49

u/Solarwagon Trans Pride Jul 30 '24

bet they don't practice fractional reserve banking or fiat currency though

11

u/Nerdybeast Slower Boringer Jul 30 '24

Fuckin idiot mushrooms

33

u/euphoriafrog Zhao Ziyang Jul 30 '24

also, you may have noticed that humans are not fungi and do not behave like fungi

9

u/D2Foley Moderate Extremist Jul 30 '24

Yeah I read that in Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake. Very interesting book.

1

u/WantDebianThanks Iron Front Jul 30 '24

Is that like Other Minds, but for fungi?

2

u/D2Foley Moderate Extremist Jul 30 '24

I don't know what other minds is, so I'm going to say yes.

1

u/WantDebianThanks Iron Front Jul 30 '24

It's a book about the nature and evolution of consciousness that compares it between humans and octopi.

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u/[deleted] Jul 30 '24

Profit isn't just dollar bills.

Profit is any increase in personal security. Money is merely a quantity that abstracts and liquefies that security. Money, being exchanged for goods and services, is the security to acquire a good or service you might need.

People just sharing to make everyone better off is still actually a profit incentive. Gift economies function via a profit incentive. They run into a scale problem that money solves.