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Interesting premise and enjoyable worldbuilding of the banality of the AI/Automation takeover, but ultimately a simplified parable on the interaction of technology and capitalism, how we live our lives, and the dangers of advanced technology without advancing global morality and humanism.
Once AI and robotic automation is developed to its full science fiction capacity, Manna describes two possible societal outcomes: a capitalist oligarchical hellhole, and a communal post-scarcity utopia.
This book is not meant to flesh out all of the details or real politik, but even so I think it glosses over some important details on how this latter society works in practice. What happens when other nations want access to this advanced technology and attack the Australia Project? How does the community achieve consensus on the rules governing this extremely authoritarian all-encompassing central system?
If you read this and wonder the same, go read Iain M Banks’ The Culture series, which features a far-future post-scarcity society like this benevolently ruled by advanced AI, but focuses on the grey areas where they butt up against rival civilizations or deal with edge cases on their utopia.
Once AI and robotic automation is developed to its full science fiction capacity, Manna describes two possible societal outcomes: a capitalist oligarchical hellhole, and a communal post-scarcity utopia.
This book is not meant to flesh out all of the details or real politik, but even so I think it glosses over some important details on how this latter society works in practice. What happens when other nations want access to this advanced technology and attack the Australia Project? How does the community achieve consensus on the rules governing this extremely authoritarian all-encompassing central system?
If you read this and wonder the same, go read Iain M Banks’ The Culture series, which features a far-future post-scarcity society like this benevolently ruled by advanced AI, but focuses on the grey areas where they butt up against rival civilizations or deal with edge cases on their utopia.