this post was submitted on 03 Feb 2026
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Solar punk or solar authoritarianism?
Solar punk is "real" as in, plenty people living off grid on solar, catchment, whatever. China does seem to be making whatever theyre doing become a thing. And its great. Cheap energy probably the most effective path to world peace. If we can get the price to "effectively 0" we can solve just about everything.
How would you produce solar panels when living "off grid"? You need a large, integrated economy to be able to produce such complicated hardware. This is why solar punk is fundamentally an elitist ideology. You look down your nose on "authoritarians", and have a holier-than-thou attitude toward them, but the society you envision is impossible without them.
Solar panels last a long time and in 30 years or so we will have enough to power the world for a century.
Imagine being over the age of 10 and using the word authoritarianism like it means anything.
What distinguishes "punk" from "authoritarian?" Is it not punk to radically "abolish the present state of things," as Marx says, and which the PRC is steadfastly working towards? What makes the PRC "authoritarian" in a way that makes it unacceptable?
I'm also unconvinced that energy prices at effectively 0 will solve everything either, class struggle remains, and we will all have to follow in the footsteps of countries like China in overthrowing the bourgeoisie, as they did in 1949.