“How much do I need to have before I feel anxious?”
A classic most desperately needed by the people of a wealthy country who do not know how to be happy.
The most delightful reunion with Marx's "Das Kapital"

Such a strange combination.
A self-made capitalist and a writer who voluntarily came off the rails and has been living as a Marxist for 30 years.
The subject they discuss, sometimes swearing and sometimes getting drunk on, is none other than Das Kapital. Written by Marx, who the BBC called "the most important philosopher in history," this classic book set the world ablaze and redefined its borders.
But this book never said that we should drive out the bourgeoisie and become poor together.
If this book really wants to say anything, it's that even if you don't achieve anything, you're still human.


Author Seung-su Lim, who has played a major role in popularizing Marxism through works such as "Capital Understood by Monkeys," calls out through this book those who have fallen away from their former ideals in the face of the harsh realities of life.
I have been fighting frantically my entire life to protect myself and my family.
I did my best, but the economic value society assigns to me is slowly decreasing.
I'm afraid of being left behind, so I look for business opportunities or investments, but I know this is a game I can't win.
This is why, the more I live, the more I begin to see 『Capital』.
If I were to read Marx at that moment, when I long to step off the treadmill of relentless growth and efficiency, how would the landscape I see change? When I open "Capital: A Guide to Reading at Fifty," I begin to grasp the insight of a classic who possesses the most profound insight into the systems that govern our world today, and begin to interpret my life and the turbulent future.

Those who steal time accumulate great wealth, while those who are robbed of time cannot escape the harshness of life.
The moment you understand this massive exploitative mechanism, the world takes on a completely different face, just like when Neo swallowed the red pill in the movie The Matrix.
In that sense, 『Capital』 is not just a classic of economics, but a book of social anatomy that reveals in detail the source of the unequal world we face every day and the anxiety and helplessness that arise from it.


The artificial intelligence and robots we face today are the new productive forces of today.
If the machines that emerged during the Industrial Revolution replaced human arms and legs, artificial intelligence and robots are now replacing humans themselves.
This is shaking the very foundations of the capitalist social order, pushing us beyond mere job changes to a situation that questions the fundamental meaning of human existence.
If we want to properly understand and cope with this enormous change, we must return to Marx.

--- From "To Become Human Again"

Isn't that what a classic is?
You've heard the title, but not many people have actually read it.
That's why there are many misunderstandings about the content.
As the title suggests, Marx's 『Capital』 is a book that scientifically analyzes the capitalist system.
If someone says they don't read Capital because they don't like socialism, it's like saying they don't read the Bible because they don't like Buddha.
--- From "Isn't the income gap a gap in ability?"

The rules of the world we live in today—where did they all come from? It wasn't like this from the beginning.
In fact, if you think about it, everything we take for granted was created in a specific era, in a specific history.
But if we just accept it as 'that's just the way it is', at some point our minds become trapped in that frame.
In the intellectual prison called capitalist logic.
Because capitalism feels so natural to us, it becomes increasingly difficult to imagine anything outside of it.
In the past, slavery and feudalism were considered natural, but that's not the case anymore.
Likewise, wouldn't future generations someday view today's capitalism as an unfair society? If we truly desire freedom of thought, I believe we need the courage and wisdom to break free from this intellectual prison at least once.
--- From "I Dig the Ground and Do Business"

There are also cases where an individual brings about amazing innovation through outstanding knowledge and capabilities.
But much of the knowledge possessed by these great individuals owes much to the towers of knowledge built by countless others in the past.
How much of the knowledge in my head could I possibly know without the passion, effort, and dedication of people in the past?
Even for me, everything I'm teaching right now is indebted to Marx.
So did Marx develop the theory all by himself? No.
If there had been no senior scholars like Adam Smith or David Ricardo, there would have been no Marx.
No matter how smart Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg are, most of their knowledge is based on the achievements of people in the past.
They are just one more brick in the great tower of knowledge that humanity has built.
From a Marxist perspective, their enormous wealth was not due to any remarkable innovations.
They became rich simply because they were capitalists, because they could steal other people's time and turn it into profit.
--- From "There are many good managers in the world"

What I'm trying to overcome is the system itself that produces inequality and discrimination, not a specific individual capitalist.
Just as we cannot arbitrarily judge a person from the past by the standards of the present, we cannot criticize an individual capitalist by the standards of a future that has not yet arrived, that is, socialism.
But I want to make this point clear.
How absurd would it be if someone were to suggest that we return to the class-based society of the past, saying that a good king would rule and that an era of peace could continue?
It's the same.
Some people argue that capitalism would function more healthily if capitalists operated their companies with a sense of ethics and social responsibility, but from a Marxist perspective, this is completely wrong.
The capitalist system is one in which exploitation of workers inevitably occurs on a daily basis, regardless of whether the capitalists are good or evil.

--- From "There are many good managers in the world"

What Marx denied was not property rights in general.
It criticized capitalist private ownership.
In short, he criticized the structure in which capitalists who privately own the means of production exploit workers to accumulate wealth and monopolize the profits, but he did not take issue with owning personal items or houses per se.
When we criticize a slave society, we don't say anything about the slave owners owning various valuables.
Because it criticizes ‘slave ownership’, which exploits slaves by owning them like objects.
--- From "The World's Most Ambitious and Warm Thoughts"

Western anthropologists conducted intelligence tests on Native Americans.
I gave each member of the tribe a test paper and told them to solve the problems on their own.
Perhaps you wanted to know the average intelligence of that tribe.
However, it is said that the tribesmen gathered together and discussed and solved the problem.
The anthropologist approached them and repeatedly emphasized that each person had to solve the problem separately.
The natives answered.

"If there's a problem, shouldn't we discuss it together and resolve it? I don't understand why they keep telling us to solve it separately."

I think what all socialists are pursuing is not a world where everyone drinks soju, but a world where more people enjoy wine and hobbies.
In order for the public to enjoy cultural life more actively, distribution must be fair to prevent excessive wealth from being concentrated in the hands of a few, and working hours must be shortened to increase leisure time.
As you know, this is generally the social image that socialists pursue.
--- From “Problems are originally meant to be solved together”

Of course, capitalist society clearly has many advantages over the societies that humanity has experienced in the past.
However, this does not mean that this is the final destination for humanity.
We must resolve the current contradictions and move to a new stage where people can live happier lives.
The task of our generation is to realize that the labor of others is just as valuable as our own, and to create a community where we respect one another and live in harmony.
Wouldn't such a society be a perfect fit for the communal nature ingrained in our genes? If a slave in the Joseon Dynasty had predicted, "A world without nobles or commoners will come," he would have been labeled a dreamer.
But now the slave's words have become reality.
We need to remember that the world is constantly changing.

--- From "A System That Can Cultivate Good Character"

I think many people live under the terrible illusion that capitalism is free.
In capitalism, you can only exercise your freedom to the extent of the amount of money you own.

--- From "The Most Precious Things Money Can Buy"

By the age of twenty, you have lived about 170,000 hours, and by the age of thirty, you have lived well over 260,000 hours.
For example, if I were to sit down with a young man in his 30s and lecture him on "Das Kapital" for two hours, confident that I could completely change his perspective? In fact, there's no more arrogant thought than that.
Because you are completely ignoring the 260,000 hours the other person has lived.

--- From "The Weight of 260,000 Hours"

If AI and robots completely replace human labor in the future, how will humanity survive and avoid extinction? You probably already know that the capitalist model, whereby individual capitalists privately own the means of production—AI and robots—for profit, is no longer feasible.
In a society where new means of production are widespread, the majority of workers will lose their jobs and incomes. No matter how many goods and services capitalists produce with artificial intelligence and robots, who will buy them?
Companies also lose their foundation and collapse.
Ultimately, it must be converted to public goods, that is, social ownership.
Just like national health insurance and public schools, artificial intelligence and robots will be operated for the public good.
It is about providing goods and services produced by artificial intelligence and robots to all members of the community equally, without discrimination, in terms of welfare and basic rights.

--- From "New Productivity, New Contradictions, New Era"