Fully Automated Luxury Communism by Aaron Bastani – a manifesto for the future
"Under Fully Automated Luxury Communism," writes Aaron Bastani towards the conclusion of this short, dizzyingly confident book, "we will see more of the world than ever before, eat varieties of food we have never heard of, and lead lives equivalent - if we so wish - to those of today's billionaires. Luxury will pervade everything as society based on waged work becomes as much a relic as the feudal peasant ..."
In the doomy world of 2019, to come across this forecast is quite a shock. Enormous optimism about humanity's long-term future; faith in technology, and in our wise use of it; a guilt-free enthusiasm for material goods; and yet also a belief that an updated form of communism should be 21st-century society's organising principle - these are Bastani's main themes. The immediate temptation is to see the book as some sort of joke: a satire, or a political prank.
Continue reading...