I think that’s more or less correct. A law is the what, something that can be directly observed and calculated, while a theory is the why. I honestly think if it weren’t so counter to the interests of capital, that we’d hold Marx up there with Newton or Darwin.

For whatever it’s worth, I have no alts and have been trying to engage in good faith. But no harm, no foul - you go your way and I’ll go mine.

I’d say that dialectical materialism is a “theory” in the same vein as gravity or other scientific theories rather than the colloquial usage of the term. I’m still studying it myself and don’t feel I’ve read enough to explicate in detail - others are more learned than I am on the subject. That said, my personal feelings on the subject are just that - feelings, not facts, and can no more impact dialectical materialism than my feelings on gravity can allow me to fly.

That said, certainly people can disagree on how best to apply the theory to a given time or place. But if you’re unwilling to provide details and engage in the conversation, you come across as being either dismissive or defensive.

I was skeptical of China myself until I started reading the arguments and trying to understand where they were coming from, and trying to read theory instead of being a socialist based on vibes. (Edit: not accusing you of being the same, I’m just poking fun at myself here.) I lurked a long time before making my account here, and I honestly think I was all the better for that.

I’d love it if we could eliminate all billionaires tomorrow, but I frankly don’t think that’s possible so long as imperialism exists. Imperialism is the primary contradiction at the moment, not the existence of billionaires, though I think resolving that contradiction would result in a redistribution of resources such that there would, at minimum, be far fewer billionaires.

I’d encourage you to read more about all the myriad ways the imperial core enforces its will on the third world. Vincent Bevins’ book The Jakarta Method is a good starting point if you haven’t read it or other books on the subject.

I have no idea what other instances are like, but you can join lemmy.ml without even giving an email. Unless you’re allergic to communism, I’m really not seeing the benefit of choosing one of those instances, let alone something like PieFed, as your home base. No captchas or VPN blocks, either.