Fair enough. We should remember, though, that most actually existing socialist countries have promoted artists and intellectuals in a big way; the USSR in particular was a cultural titan. I think that in many ways, the cult of “productivity” one sees in capitalist society is a form of propaganda and overcompensation, a way in which we convince ourselves that our basically inefficient and unproductive mode of social organization is in fact on the cutting edge of economic progress.
Fair enough. We should remember, though, that most actually existing socialist countries have promoted artists and intellectuals in a big way; the USSR in particular was a cultural titan. I think that in many ways, the cult of “productivity” one sees in capitalist society is a form of propaganda and overcompensation, a way in which we convince ourselves that our basically inefficient and unproductive mode of social organization is in fact on the cutting edge of economic progress.