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A review by bocifious
Fully Automated Luxury Communism by Aaron Bastani
4.0
Mr. Bastani's wonderful book starts out more about fully automated luxury than it does about communism. He deftly describes the burgeoning technological processes that could have the potential to change, and possibly save, the world. One only has to look at our current political situation to understand where communism comes in. These technologies - the vast majority of which were funded from the public purse - seem more likely to be "privatized" than they are to be used to truly solve humanity's problems. From calling climate change a hoax to outright blocking green technology progress, the oligarchs currently in charge are happy to sit and watch the world burn, literally, while their pockets get fatter.
Why then is communism needed? It is clear that our current system, one of crony capitalism, does not care about the future of the planet - whether for the poor or even seemingly the rich (its hard to imagine what the rich will do when climate change hits well before their ability to escape to Elysium). Our crony capitalists and corrupt bureaucrats use the public purse to socialize their losses while privatizing their gains. They have a vested interest in preventing disruptive technologies, whether in energy, food production, healthcare, or information. Frankly put, those in charge have abandoned us (along with abandoning democracy). The current United States government has a budget deficit of over a trillion dollars in 2020. What have we seen from that? Trillions of dollars to prop up businesses that are destroying the planet. Imagine if we instead used that money to support green infrastructure, renewable energy, healthcare. We could build systems of technology, energy, healthcare, food, and myriad others that are so advanced that they would be practically free. Of course, this is impossible in our current system which prioritizes making a profit above all else.
It will take a different system to fix our desperate situation. One in which technology is used not only for the good of all humans but for the good of earth. One in which we provide cheap, limitless energy and decide that we don't have to make a profit doing so. One in which publicly financed advances are used for the benefit of the public instead of being locked up by corporations seeking to make obscene profits. One in which we shift away from corporate bailouts and trillion dollar wars to building sustainable housing for all, powering our societies through 100% renewable sources, fixing our farming to provide nutritious food and fresh water to every human being, and creating vast healthcare systems to provide world class care and disease prevention to all citizens of Earth.
But Bastani does not stop there. He sets forth the way to reach this fully automated luxury future: populism. For Bastani, this means a society without our current ruling class. One could see why Bastani thinks that the correct system to accomplish this is communism. To accomplish universal basic services, we need common ownership of the means of production. Bastani sums up well what we are fighting for: "thus the broader hope is to mitigate "unfreedom" - the dependence on economic forces beyond our control which, for nearly all of us, determine how life turns out. We need full automation to prevent the collapse of society. But, equally, we need it so that people can truly be free. There is no reason why we cannot provide food, clothing, shelter, energy, healthcare, transport, education, and information to all citizens of earth. We have the tools, built with public money, to establish this post-scarcity society. We have the means to provide true freedom to every individual. Whether it can actually happen remains to be seen.
Bastani sets forth the explanation of full automation, the reasons for its necessity and even how it can come into practice. But there is that minority of the rich that will do anything to prevent this from happening, even if it results in an uninhabitable earth. They believe, and have always believed, that the earth belongs to them, and that they can destroy it piece by piece for profit. Unfortunately, these individuals are in charge of most corporations and governments. It may seem overwhelming to implement FALC and that is because it is overwhelming. But we must fight for a future in which the Earth and its resources are used for all of its creatures, and for humanity to have true freedom.
Why then is communism needed? It is clear that our current system, one of crony capitalism, does not care about the future of the planet - whether for the poor or even seemingly the rich (its hard to imagine what the rich will do when climate change hits well before their ability to escape to Elysium). Our crony capitalists and corrupt bureaucrats use the public purse to socialize their losses while privatizing their gains. They have a vested interest in preventing disruptive technologies, whether in energy, food production, healthcare, or information. Frankly put, those in charge have abandoned us (along with abandoning democracy). The current United States government has a budget deficit of over a trillion dollars in 2020. What have we seen from that? Trillions of dollars to prop up businesses that are destroying the planet. Imagine if we instead used that money to support green infrastructure, renewable energy, healthcare. We could build systems of technology, energy, healthcare, food, and myriad others that are so advanced that they would be practically free. Of course, this is impossible in our current system which prioritizes making a profit above all else.
It will take a different system to fix our desperate situation. One in which technology is used not only for the good of all humans but for the good of earth. One in which we provide cheap, limitless energy and decide that we don't have to make a profit doing so. One in which publicly financed advances are used for the benefit of the public instead of being locked up by corporations seeking to make obscene profits. One in which we shift away from corporate bailouts and trillion dollar wars to building sustainable housing for all, powering our societies through 100% renewable sources, fixing our farming to provide nutritious food and fresh water to every human being, and creating vast healthcare systems to provide world class care and disease prevention to all citizens of Earth.
But Bastani does not stop there. He sets forth the way to reach this fully automated luxury future: populism. For Bastani, this means a society without our current ruling class. One could see why Bastani thinks that the correct system to accomplish this is communism. To accomplish universal basic services, we need common ownership of the means of production. Bastani sums up well what we are fighting for: "thus the broader hope is to mitigate "unfreedom" - the dependence on economic forces beyond our control which, for nearly all of us, determine how life turns out. We need full automation to prevent the collapse of society. But, equally, we need it so that people can truly be free. There is no reason why we cannot provide food, clothing, shelter, energy, healthcare, transport, education, and information to all citizens of earth. We have the tools, built with public money, to establish this post-scarcity society. We have the means to provide true freedom to every individual. Whether it can actually happen remains to be seen.
Bastani sets forth the explanation of full automation, the reasons for its necessity and even how it can come into practice. But there is that minority of the rich that will do anything to prevent this from happening, even if it results in an uninhabitable earth. They believe, and have always believed, that the earth belongs to them, and that they can destroy it piece by piece for profit. Unfortunately, these individuals are in charge of most corporations and governments. It may seem overwhelming to implement FALC and that is because it is overwhelming. But we must fight for a future in which the Earth and its resources are used for all of its creatures, and for humanity to have true freedom.