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Fully Automated Luxury Communism Isn’t Our Future
A new fantasy from the far left holds that far from taking our jobs, automation could liberate us. But it’s a false hope
In Aaron Bastani’s new book Fully Automated Luxury Communism: A Manifesto, the British author argues that advances in technology have made visible a “political map” pointing to the ideas of Karl Marx and communism, and could lead to a transformation in wealth distribution and quality of life for everyone on Earth. Automation, according to Bastani, is the social revolution that Marx had long predicted.
“This is not a book about the future but about a present that goes unacknowledged,” Bastani begins. “The outline of a world immeasurably better than our own, more equal, prosperous, and creative, is there to see if only we dare to look. But insight alone is not enough. We must have the courage — for that is what is required — to argue, persuade, and build. There is a world to win.”
Immense wealth will be generated, he explains, by the “extreme supply” of valuable resources generated by new space industries such as asteroid mining. Advancements in robotics and automation on Earth will, in turn, mean that humans are largely liberated from manual work. And the new-found wealth from this space exploration and the…
