alt Hacker News> It makes me wonder(i'm korean): how would a Westerner react if they saw me romanticizing the Mondragon cooperatives in Spain? They’d probably find it strange and out of touch with reality.
Quite the opposite - for me, anyway.
FWIW, as a Westerner, I find the Mondragon Corporation to be fascinating and something I've read a lot about because there's no way we've figured out the ideal sort of setup for a business (or government, or any sort of human organization, given appropriate context) in the year 2026.
We have a lot to learn, and while "different" doesn't always mean "better," I strongly believe being exposed to "different" is necessary for us to devise novel approaches to human organization.
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This is a good approach.
That said... It's hard to deny the romanticization and projection point above.
Beer goggles can be a mind expanding POV, but you need to be aware of it or you just end up being wrong for silly reasons.
A sober look at different is a good thing. Ooh... I agree that better and more advanced org concepts are likely still to be developed. But Otoh...
There are aspects about cultures which can be fascinating, not (only) because they are foreign and new, but because dedicated and intelligent people have been improving them for generations, centuries even. I have a friend who is from Korea and who is a wood worker, and we have compared the different approaches to what, in the end, solves the same problems. Not everything can be incorporated into the other way of doing things, but I have found it eye-opening. My brain still tries to find ways, comparing, like a constant ping. Maybe one needs to dedicate 100% to the new way for a while to understand it fully before a genius brain would be able to find the spark how to meld both methods into a single improved Way of Doing Things (tm).
Let’s not confuse “romanticism” with “intrigue.” Things can be interesting and intriguing without being ideal targets.
Same thing, being Spanish the Basque Cooperatives movement is fascinating. Do you have any recommended read about it?