Fully Automated Luxury Communism

- Bastani claims scarcity is the central question in economic thought. This is a neo-classical formulation, and is not in line with the central questions of political economy that Marx's writings (who Bastani obviously references liberally) grapple with. This leads to some theoretical and historical errors

- Bastani does not have a strong grasp on the labour theory of value, or at least doesn't subscribe to it in Marx's formulation. Bastani believes you can have profit without human labour input, where, under the labour theory of value, the exchange of labour is _the_ source of all profit.

- treats the move from late-capitalism to communist utopia as inevitable, and doesn't really grapple with strategic concerns, building class-consciousness, etcetera

https://theecologist.org/2019/may/29/climate-communism-and-a...

- The project is part of a long line of Marxist 'technologically deterministic' theories and proposals. Basically that capitalism will lead to its own demise through the internal contradictions that define it.

- the reviewer is skeptical of technological solutions to climate change, and Bastani's work relies on this heavily

I like the line at the bottom of the second review that describes this book as 'soft science fiction'. Something to shift the Overton window, but not something that provides much actionable insight.

Re: Fully Automated Luxury Communism

#5

Post by throwaway77384 » Thu, Jun 13, 2019, 7:43 AM UTC

this is just an ad?

Re: Fully Automated Luxury Communism

#6

Post by crdoconnor » Thu, Jun 13, 2019, 7:49 AM UTC

sewercake wrote: post #4

Haven't read the book, but here are two (notably harsh) reviews: https://marxandphilosophy.org.uk/reviews/17006_fully-automat... - Bastani claims scarcity is the central question in economic thought. This is a neo-classical formulation, and is not in line with the central questions of political economy that Marx's writings (who Bastani obviously references liberally) grapple with. This leads to some theoretical and h…

>Bastani believes you can have profit without human labour input

e.g. by selling mineral rights or valuable beachfront land.

Re: Fully Automated Luxury Communism

#7

Post by bogle » Thu, Jun 13, 2019, 7:58 AM UTC

sewercake wrote: post #4

Haven't read the book, but here are two (notably harsh) reviews: https://marxandphilosophy.org.uk/reviews/17006_fully-automat... - Bastani claims scarcity is the central question in economic thought. This is a neo-classical formulation, and is not in line with the central questions of political economy that Marx's writings (who Bastani obviously references liberally) grapple with. This leads to some theoretical and h…

Here's a more enjoyable review from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/29/fully-automate...

By enjoyable I mean less po-faced.

Re: Fully Automated Luxury Communism

#8

Post by ToddBonzalez » Thu, Jun 13, 2019, 8:01 AM UTC

"Technological advance will reduce the value of commodities—food, healthcare and housing—towards zero."

Wishful thinking but I doubt it will happen, as long as there are corporations which profit from food, healthcare and housing...

Re: Fully Automated Luxury Communism

#9

Post by vortico » Thu, Jun 13, 2019, 8:10 AM UTC

>feed a world of 9 billion

How does the book suggest to maintain this population in a way that isn't immoral? Does this book's plan work with 90 billion people?

Re: Fully Automated Luxury Communism

#10

Post by simongray » Thu, Jun 13, 2019, 8:17 AM UTC

vortico wrote: post #9

>feed a world of 9 billion How does the book suggest to maintain this population in a way that isn't immoral? Does this book's plan work with 90 billion people?

If current population growth estimates are to be believed, the world population is projected to peak at around 12 billion people. The fertility rates in large parts of the world (North America, Europe, East Asia) are already below replacement level and others around the world are falling.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projections_of_population_grow...