Existential Comics claims capitalism sounds absurd if you try to explain it to a hypothetical alien:
"Imagine explaining Capitalism to a [sic] alien: 'Well...a few people own everything, and for 40 hours a week everyone else has to do what they say.'"
Wrong.
Actually that sounds a lot more like socialism.
Anyway, here's how I would explain capitalism to an alien:
"Our human ancestors were very brilliant.
They discovered the future.
No other animal on our planet has yet.
Then they discovered they could bargain with the future.
They realized they could save some of what they produced instead of just consuming it all.
They also realized they could turn their surplus time and resources into specialized tools that would increase their productivity so they could make better or more goods that they value and which improve their lives in less time or at less expense.
That is capital.
Capitalism is the spectacularly productive economy built on this phenomenon.
We are very lucky our wise ancestors walked down the path that lead us to this happy place, this incredibly safe, clean, healthy, comfortable place of plenty that even those wise ancestors would marvel at if they were still around to see what we have built standing on their shoulders."
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