# Imagine if there were no posessions **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 4, 2010, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imagine-if-there-were-no-posessions/541892 "2010-06-04T05:24:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![No\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@No\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imagine-if-there-were-no-posessions/541892/1 "2010-06-04T05:24:05Z")
A couple of local rastafas kidnapped me. First they tried to get my Visa pin code saying “Tomorrow you will not be” pointing a knife at my neck. I replied (drunk as I was) that I could not care less. Then the man moved his knife two feet lower and said “ **Tomorrow you be No Man** ” so I had to give them what they wanted. Now some $5000 poorer I started wondering whether money or $$$ was the number of the beast. Can we live without money and private ownership? At least crime rates would drop down. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imagine-if-there-were-no-posessions/541892/2 "2010-06-04T05:27:01Z")
As long as things exist, men will fight to control them. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imagine-if-there-were-no-posessions/541892/3 "2010-06-04T05:30:59Z")
We probably could live without money and private ownership, but society would be very different than it is. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imagine-if-there-were-no-posessions/541892/4 "2010-06-04T05:32:25Z")
Wow. Maybe you should talk about this some more. Like, to a supportive community like the SDMB. Or the police. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imagine-if-there-were-no-posessions/541892/5 "2010-06-04T05:33:30Z")
Even if everybody went along with this, what would happen the first time there wasn’t enough to go around? ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imagine-if-there-were-no-posessions/541892/6 "2010-06-04T06:20:26Z")
> [@No\_Man](#): > > Imagine if there were no posessions It isn’t hard to do. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imagine-if-there-were-no-posessions/541892/7 "2010-06-04T06:53:54Z")
> [@No\_Man](#): > > At least crime rates would drop down. Yes, they would, because everyone would be dead of starvation and exposure. ---
**Author:** ![No\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@No\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imagine-if-there-were-no-posessions/541892/8 "2010-06-04T07:20:20Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > Yes, they would, because everyone would be dead of starvation and exposure. Mandatory work would be one principle. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imagine-if-there-were-no-posessions/541892/9 "2010-06-04T08:25:37Z")
One of the things I like about money is the ability to work now so I don’t have to work later. Would that still be possible? If so, how would that work? ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imagine-if-there-were-no-posessions/541892/10 "2010-06-04T08:44:34Z")
> [@No\_Man](#): > > Mandatory work would be one principle. That doesn’t sound like utopia to me. Instead of criminals stealing _some_ of the proceeds of my labour, now the State steals _all_ of it. Besides, criminals can still steal the possessions you need to survive, except now they’ll be stealing them from a State warehouse instead of from you directly. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imagine-if-there-were-no-posessions/541892/11 "2010-06-04T10:28:49Z")
> [@No\_Man](#): > > Mandatory work would be one principle. So replace our current system with slavery? BRILLIANT! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imagine-if-there-were-no-posessions/541892/12 "2010-06-04T10:57:09Z")
> [@No\_Man](#): > > Mandatory work would be one principle. Actually, until we reach the point where technology can instantly supply all basic needs (i.e. machines are doing the “mandatory work”), I daresay the idea is grossly premature. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imagine-if-there-were-no-posessions/541892/13 "2010-06-04T11:14:03Z")
Shit, “property is theft” is my political lodestone, and even _I_ don’t think \*personal \*possessions are wrong and I think money is a useful device for transferring value. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imagine-if-there-were-no-posessions/541892/14 "2010-06-04T11:59:19Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > As long as things exist, men will fight to control them. You got that right. I remember I was watching a reality show called “Kid Nation”. In it a girl draws out a square in the dirt ground. She then professes to the rest of the kids “This is MY square and nobody else can be in it!” So what did the rest of the kids do? Well, they fought to get in it!! :smack: I mean seriously, WTF? It’s a dirt square! It has No value! This speaks volumes, on society as a whole, on so many levels. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imagine-if-there-were-no-posessions/541892/15 "2010-06-04T12:36:08Z")
Well, that example is a bit biased by the context. The kid who realizes the dirt square itself is valueless and declines to fight for access loses out on the REAL item of value - camera time. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imagine-if-there-were-no-posessions/541892/16 "2010-06-04T12:40:54Z")
> [@No\_Man](#): > > Mandatory work would be one principle. If you don’t possess anything, how’re you gonna force me to work? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imagine-if-there-were-no-posessions/541892/17 "2010-06-04T12:42:52Z")
Heh, true. In this situation the OP proposes, the single most valuable possession to hang onto would be a gun. With it, you can get other possessions as you need them. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imagine-if-there-were-no-posessions/541892/18 "2010-06-04T12:54:51Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Actually, until we reach the point where technology can instantly supply all basic needs (i.e. machines are doing the “mandatory work”), I daresay the idea is grossly premature. This is the Star Trek universe. No one there seems to give a whit about possessions. Except Sulu collects antique guns. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imagine-if-there-were-no-posessions/541892/19 "2010-06-04T13:06:12Z")
> [@campp](#): > > This is the Star Trek universe. No one there seems to give a whit about possessions. Except Sulu collects antique guns. :smack: Couldn’t you just replicate antique guns so perfectly that it’d be impossible to tell the difference between guns that have really existed for hundreds of years and guns that were replicated? ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imagine-if-there-were-no-posessions/541892/20 "2010-06-04T13:19:15Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Couldn’t you just replicate antique guns so perfectly that it’d be impossible to tell the difference between guns that have really existed for hundreds of years and guns that were replicated? Sure, but that isn’t the point of it. He presumbably enjoys the chase, search and eventual ownership of an original piece. Something you can replicate is the use of the weapon in historical context. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imagine-if-there-were-no-posessions/541892.md?page=2)