Microsoft abuses their de facto monopoly to engage in gross invasion of their users’ privacy, and continues to try to wrest their users’ control of their system from them by altering system settings after updates, and making some settings nearly impossible to change. And that’s to say nothing of MS’s attempts to turn their operating system into and advertising platform.

That particular statement wasn’t directed at Grayox specifically, it was more about a particular subset self-identified communists on the internet, including (some of?) the lemmy.ml admins, and many users of lemmygrad and hexbear. The ones that correctly identify that the USA is bad, but then prop up the likes of the Soviet Union, the PRC, the DPRK, and even Russia (which doesn’t even claim to be communist) as paragons of good, when often times they’re worse than the US.

Capitalism does not self regulate[…]

Correct, hence “In theory” and “nonsense” in the words surrounding that phrase.

You should try reading Marx and Lenin’s actual writings[…]

I certainly would like to read at bare minimum some of Marx’s works, but ADHD is really not conducive to being able to read even mildly long texts, like I couldn’t even get all the way through Einstein’s Why Socialism?.

There are multiple free audio recordings[…]

Audio is even worse on that front, as I’ll end repeatedly tuning parts out and have to go back and listen to those parts again, which just isn’t good for motivation.

[…]you seem very earnest[…]

I like to think so at least. I just don’t like when people fall into the “A is bad, B opposes A, therefore B is good” trap.

Humanity must escape the all powerful driving forces of the profit motives Capitalism enforces[…]

Agreed. Wholeheartedly.

That process if it is to take place will appear extremely authoritarian to those who value profit above all else.

They may attempt to paint it as such, but it need not actually be so. Even if that process were to take the form of a violent revolution (which, to be clear it doesn’t need to.)

Alright, firstly, I think you’re mistaking me as advocating for capitalism. I’m not. Whilst I’m not a fan of labels (they’re so easily contorted away from their original meanings by those seeking to undermine the ideologies they describe), I believe “Socialist” would reasonably describe my beliefs.

Secondly,

[…]authoritarianism isn’t the end goal of ML.

I think you’ve got that backwards. Marxism-Leninism starts with democratic means, then implements an authoritarian regime.

[…]can you tell me what the end goal of this system even is?

No, because there isn’t one. Capitalism actively punishes any form of forethought or long-term planning.

[…]The end goal of Marxist-Leninism is a classes society where each person contributes what they can to society and receives back what they need to live a fulfilling life. They are extremely different.

In theory, maybe. Just like in theory Capitalism self regulates through competitive pressures, or whatever nonsense it is that Capitalists spout.

I’m more concerned with actual effects, and empirical evidence than hypotheticals. Authoritarian regimes invariably turn oppressive, one way or another.

lemmy.ml is run by marxist-leninists (hence the .ml), which is an explicitly authoritarian ideology, and for the record trading one form of authoritarianism for another is not a worthwhile improvement.

I’d rather my worker’s rights didn’t come with a side of authoritarianism, but maybe that’s just me.

Almost like AuthComs are authoritarian before they are communist, and thus have more in common with the American Fascist Party than any actual leftists.

Right, patents are a whole separate thing. I added a clarification above that the 15 years/life is for copyright. The way I did patents is that corporations are ineligible for patents, and individuals get them for 5 years.

As long as labor is necessary, some form of market economy is likely to crop up, and as long as there’s some form of market economy I’m hesitant to limit the ability for individual creators to make a living in said market economy, so I’m not sure I’d personally go for such a large carve-out from patent protections.

I actually started writing up a a new constitution a while ago as a sort of thought experiment. It’s not finished yet but some of the highlights thus far include:

• A unicameral congress, with uncapped membership
• A right to privacy, free education, internet, and government transparency
• Freedom from religion clauses
• Constitutionally limited intellectual property: Copyright is 15 years for corporations, life for individuals.
• Uncapped supreme court, 2 appointments per presidential term
• Score voting for the president
• Proportional representation for congress
• No term limits

1. You know nothing at all about me

I can avoid it like I’ve avoided cryptocurrency and NFTs. And it may be a “tool,” but it’s one built on the theft from and unpaid labor of tens of thousands of independent creators, and is nigh wholly controlled by corporate interests bent on eliminating those same independent creators whose data they stole to make their “tools.” It should not exist. Not until it can be made in an ethical manner without harming the creatives necessary to make it.

Per their website premium includes “Unlimited sentence paraphrasing powered by A.I.” so I’m not sure they’re an appropriate alternative to avoid the “AI” bullshit.