Fully Automated Luxury Communism

A Manifesto

Aaron Bastani

• Publisher: Verso
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781786632647
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Communism, Post-Communism & Socialism
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Fully Automated Luxury Communism promises a radically new left future for everyone. New technologies will liberate us from work, providing the opportunity to build a society beyond both capitalism and scarcity. Automation, rather than undermining an economy built on full employment, is instead the path to a world of liberty, luxury and happiness. Solar power will deliver the energy that we need, while asteroid mining will deliver the necessary resources, allowing us to end the devastation of our environment. Innovations in AI, gene editing, food technology will leads us to new ways of living better lives. In his first book, radical political commentator Aaron Bastani conjures a new politics: a vision of a world of unimaginable hope, highlighting how we move to energy abundance, feed a world of nine billion, overcome work, transcend the limits of biology and build meaningful freedom for everyone. Rather than a final destination, such a society heralds the beginning of history.

Index

‘Abundance Index’, 235–6

Africa, 107–10, 162

ageing

about, 138–41

in Britain, 141–4

Elysium, 154–8

gene therapies, 149–54

genetic information, 144–9

Green Revolution, 164–8

agriculture

about, 31–2

cellular, 171, 174, 175, 177–81

end of mass, 79–80

agronomic research, 165

Alzheimer’s disease, 143

Amazon, 88–9

Amazon GO, 88–9

Antarctic Treaty System, 136, 136n

anthropocene, 96–7

anti-austerity, politics of, 201

Apollo, 122, 128, 137

Apple, 84

Arkwright, Richard, 208

Arkyd, 132

Around the World in Eighty Days (Verne), 33

artificial intelligence (AI), 90

asteroid 16 Psyche, 134

asteroid belt, 131

asteroid mining, 119–20, 133–4

Atlas robot, 82–3, 132

automation

actual, 88–92

growth of, 239

in medicine, 91

autonomy

autonomous vehicles, 83–6

of publicly owned firms under market socialism, 231

Autumn Budget (2017), 58

Ava Winery, 180

Badiou, Alain, 18

Bank of England, 228, 229

Beck, Peter, 123

Bezos, Jeff, 121, 135

biology, as information, 39

birth rites, 146–7

Blue Origin, 124, 133–4, 135

Blumenthal, Chris, 2–4

Blur Origin, 121

BNP (British National Party), 27

Boeing, 121

Borlaug, Norman, 165–6, 171

Boston Consulting Group, 46–7

Boulton, Matthew, 34

BP (British Petroleum), 100

Brand, Stewart, 48–9, 64

Brexit, 21, 28–9, 30, 206–7

Brin, Sergey, 171

Britain

ageing in, 141–4

transportation in, 215

unions in, 211–12

British National Party (BNP), 27

British Petroleum (BP), 100

British Rail Consortium, 89

Brus, Włodzimierz

The General Problems of the Functioning of the Socialist Economy, 231

From Marx to the Market, 230–1

B...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: Six Characters in Search of a Future
• I. Chaos under Heaven
• II. New Travellers
• III. Paradise Found
• Bibliography
• Index