How would one support innovation in socialism?
How would one support innovation in socialism?
I am genuinely interested how such a thing would be done. I understand that it wouldn't be as hard as with communism, but I can't think of any way to encourage companies to make better (genuinely better) products. I remember how my mother told me how in her days (she lived in the DDR) there wasn't really any reason to be better than another company, as they would all be payed equally.
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Workers are paid fairly equally under capitalsism regardless for each job. There is a "standard rate". The incentives that could exist from the perspective of the worker would remain the same (bonus checks etc) no matter the system (minus a moneyless one).
Also remember is was the USSR who made it to space before any other country. Almost as if hard work is stimulated in many ways - and humans are not only interested in money.
I do understand that it is motivating for people to perform tasks they like and to strive for goals, but how would we deal with work which does not for any of these criteria?
My opinion:
There's really two types of innovation, one type of innovation which expands the horizons of humanities understanding, things like medical breakthroughs and space exploration,
and another that makes the same work we've been doing more efficient. Think Nickle-Iron batteries over Lithium-Ion for example.
Socialist countries tend to excel at the horizon-expanding innovation because profit motive exists less than the motive for expanding one's own consciousness at the expense at times of efficiency, and in reverse capitalist countries tend to excel at innovation that focuses on efficiency over the expansion of human knowledge