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Aaron Bastani

Fully Automated Luxury Communism Hardcover – June 11, 2019

by Aaron Bastani (Author)

327 ratings

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A different kind of politics for a new kind of society--beyond work, scarcity and capitalism

In the twenty-first century, new technologies should liberate us from work. Automation, rather than undermining an economy built on full employment, is instead the path to a world of liberty, luxury and happiness—for everyone. Technological advance will reduce the value of commodities—food, healthcare and housing—towards zero.

Improvements in renewable energies will make fossil fuels a thing of the past. Asteroids will be mined for essential minerals. Genetic editing and synthetic biology will prolong life, virtually eliminate disease and provide meat without animals. New horizons beckon.

In Fully Automated Luxury Communism, Aaron Bastani conjures a vision of extraordinary hope, showing how we move to energy abundance, feed a world of 9 billion, overcome work, transcend the limits of biology, and establish meaningful freedom for everyone. Rather than a final destination, such a society merely heralds the real beginning of history.

Print length

288 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Verso
Publication date

June 11, 2019
Dimensions

6 x 1.1 x 8.6 inches
ISBN-10

1786632624
ISBN-13

978-1786632623
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“A knowingly provocative … utopian manifesto … a refreshing departure from the the usual forecasts of machine-led jobpocalypse.”
—Times Literary Supplement

“A stimulating intervention … fascinating on the dazzling possibilities of the present.”
—New Humanist

“In 100 years’ time many of the ideas in this book will be mainstream, while kindergarten students laugh at our mainstream economic textbooks. Bastani’s genius is to see the future with crisp clarity, unafraid of the consequences of being right.”
—Paul Mason, author of Postcapitalism

“One of the most important books to come out of the British left in recent years. Incredibly ambitious and wide-ranging, but also well-written and readable, it provides a fascinating glimpse into a future beyond scarcity and beyond capitalism. Not simply a set of predictions about an unknowable future, it is a call to action to those seeking to bring an entirely new world into being.”
—Grace Blakeley, New Statesman

“The debate is no longer about tinkering with our current broken social order, but replacing it: this fascinating book is an absolutely critical contribution, and a must-read for all those who aspire to build a new society.”
—Owen Johns, author of The Establishment

“At a time when our horizons have shrunk, when instead of striving for a better world we look backward to old comforts, Aaron Bastani calls us to dream and struggle for the type of society finally fit for humanity to live as humans should.”
—Bhaskar Sunkara, author of The Socialist Manifesto

“[A] leading figure in the rich ferment of ideas around Corbyn’s Labour … [Fully Automated Luxury Communism] offers a snapshot of the new radical narrative that would frame the programme of government of an incoming Prime Minister Corbyn.”
—Financial Times

“A startlingly sunny and audacious manifesto that reads the extremity of current political, economic, and environmental crises as a sign of the scale of opportunity for radical change … [Bastani] gamely reclaims the stuff of dystopia for a more buoyant vision … Bastani’s arguments rest on the conviction that the major problems that face citizens are political in nature—and thus that their only possible solutions will be political, too.”
—Lidija Haas, Harper’s

“Bastani writes with pace, economy and infectious enthusiasm … There are more ideas crammed in here than in a whole shelf of standard politics books. And in today’s fraught world, the time to read whole shelves of politics books may have passed.”
—Andy Beckett, Guardian

“Offers a hopeful vision of a possible future, one that, with its blend of utopian energy and careful argumentation, is worth taking seriously.”
—Vector

“Attempts to take the word back to Marx’s post-work, post-scarcity future.”
—Sarah Jaffe, Bookforum

“It’s a manifesto that imagines life in a post-capitalist world where automation has replaced manual labour, and it applies the theories of Marx to show how this could save us from dystopia. Its a pretty audacious book.”
—Gruff Rhys, Observer

“A provocative … reckoning with the end of market capitalism, and what might follow … In outlining the benefits of decarbonised economies, worker-owned businesses, people’s banks, planet taxes and universal basic services, Bastani is starting to put flesh on the spectre that might one day haunt Europe again.”
—Gavin Jacobson, New Statesman

“Jeremy Corbyn’s new left … do not wish only to manage capitalism. They want something more. They are something more. And this book is an attempt to explain what that more is.”
—Times

“[Bastani’s] limpid prose, fuelled by an infectious revolutionary elan, adroitly synthesises … big ideas for lay readers and deftly elucidates the continued relevance of Marx’s writings … [Fully Automated Luxury Communism] serves as a vital broadening of our political horizons.”
—Morning Star

“A feisty manifesto … proposes a blueprint for a new society; one in which advanced technology will free humanity from the necessity to work.”
—New Internationalist

“An entertaining … romp through some of the most profound innovations and developments that could, if managed under the aegis of socialism, transform the way in which we live our lives.”
—Quietus

“Rousing.”
—Red Pepper

“In a world where we are constantly told we have no choice but to accept the status quo his confidence in the possibility of change is refreshing.”
—Socialism Today

About the Author

Aaron Bastani is co-founder and Senior Editor at Novara Media and has a doctorate from the University of London. His research interests include new media, social movements and political economy. He has written for Vice, the Guardian, the London Review of Books and the New York Times and regularly appears as a commentator on the BBC and Sky News.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Verso (June 11, 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1786632624
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1786632623
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.04 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.1 x 8.6 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #119,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #123 in Communism & Socialism (Books)
- #138 in Economic Conditions (Books)
- #343 in Popular Culture in Social Sciences

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James Kalomiris, The Peripatetic Reader

The Tale of Three Narrative Lines

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 2, 2020

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This book, Fully Automated Luxury Communism, really consists of three parts. One is broad look at the development of technological stages in modern human civilization. The author calls these technological stages “disruptions.” The first is the development of planned agriculture, the second is the Industrial Revolution, and the third is the evolution of automation at the workplace. We’ve seen this type of analysis before, in a slightly different classifications, but enlightening nonetheless. The second narrative is a detailed description of the extent to which automation has taken over the workplace and our lives. I would say that this narrative takes up approximately sixty percent of the book.

Then there is the third part, what the author calls a manifesto, of what is called Fully Automated Luxury Communism. What are the displaced workers to do? Fully Automated Luxury Communism. Fully Automated Luxury Communism is the result of a Universal Basic Income, negotiated and implemented by existing financial institutions, allowed after active participation in the existing political systems, with the blessings of Karl Marx.

You can see the problem with this structure. Fully Automated Luxury Communism is an illustration of an age-old question of how societal change happens: To work outside or within the System. The author definitely proposes reform within the Capitalistic structure. But, for example, for a political apparatus which has only grudgingly accepted and at the same time has actively attempted to overturn Obamacare through the Courts since its enactment, the real question is whether that same apparatus would accept a Universal Basic Income with open arms. And while the author is correct in saying Karl Marx marveled at technological advancements, he was also very clear that the entire system as a whole needed to be changed, not, as the author has suggested, simply reformed or “reforged.”

The author appears to ignore the real essence of Marx’s thought. As Michel Henry, the French philosopher reminds us, the ultimate reality in Marx’s universe was the living individual which is reflected in the individual’s labor. The deleterious effects of Capital corrupts and destroys this essence in its capacity and tendency to innovate through technology. Now Marx may have marveled at the rate of technology in Capital, but there comes a point where that technology runs amok and causes more harm than good. Living in our contemporary world has taught us that much. I seriously doubt Marx intended the living individual’s life to be idle. He made a point in the Gotha Program to say the ultimate goal of the Communist society is where people produced according to their need and capacity. He certainly did not intend the rate of technology to completely overpower humankind as a whole. This would put humankind in a position to live out the tongue-in-cheek adage: “The number one cause of death is retirement.”

My intent is not to disparage the author’s treatment. This is a good read. Workplace automation is a serious topic with serious repercussions and he has more than adequately described the extent and seriousness of the issue. But whether the changes the author proposes can actually happen with the existing apparatuses seems more like Socialist science fiction than a likely projection. I hope I am wrong.

11 people found this helpful

Helpful

Brian Croner

Reflects My Same Thoughts, Put More Articulately

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 15, 2019

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I am an avid reader of the online media we call news in this country (USA). I independently formed a similar conclusion just from the perspective I've developed from consuming a load of information. For me, the novelty of this book was to show how predictions from economic contributors were in agreement if you look at the future described by the author in the perspective of modern technology.

One takeaway for me was I found a way to disagree with author Chris Hedges, a man who agrees with Marxist criticism of capital but disagrees with the communist outcome as predicted by Karl Marx. I think Mr. Bastani did a great job of codifying and narrating the capitalist progression, calling it capitalist realism, and worded it all in a way that is hard to reject.

If you're not an avid reader of news, this book will arm you with the insight to make some predictions, and if you are an avid reader of news like I am but are short on relevant selections of the history of economic thought, this book will fill in the gaps and give you the benefit of seeing how Keynes and Marx, for instance, agreed with one another, a comparison I've never seen myself from any other author.

In short, speaking with an educational background of an advanced degree in computer science, I find it easy to go from the premises he presents (which are true) to the conclusion he presents, so I believe he builds a strong argument for the future of society. I thank Mr. Bastani for reminding me that communism, as presented by Karl Marx, didn't necessarily rely on human labor to produce the shared material wealth. Instead, Karl Marx's prediction relied on the assumption that the means of production will become very efficient, and Mr. Basatani identified the nascent technology for this as artificial intelligence.

I recommend you purchase this book and I hope you enjoy reading it just as I did.

28 people found this helpful

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Hieromonk

Entertaining book, reads well yet lacks meat

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 7, 2019

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The authors core conjecture is: If most work is done by machines, energy gained from renewable sources and natural resources mined in asteroids, then the governments can provide universal basic services for its citizens.

While this is trivially true, to me the interesting portion, which was unfortunately left out, is the transition phase to get there. At what point will a for profit company transition into letting the government use their mined resources or PV cells, (objects which don't have marginal cost going to zero)? If that's done through taxes, then you still need a large body of consumers who can spend money.

The book touches up on many different areas s.a., climate change, AI, space mining (where the two most prominent companies he mentions both didn't get another round of funding), health care and UBI/UBS. In those chapters, while I understand that this is not an academic book, it would have been nice if at least the key arguments primary sources would have been cited.

All in all a fun read, keep thinking outside of the box!

7 people found this helpful

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RF.Economics

The astonishing and elegantly argued manifesto we needed

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 25, 2019

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It's odd there is no mention whatsoever of Star Trek in the whole text. Star Trek illustrates FALC has been in our collective imagination for years, with many of us already suspecting it was obtainable and desirable... even though we didn't know what to call this new society, or how to get there. Perhaps until know... This is the type of book that if someone picks it up in 500 years, they would be surprised by its foresight. Bastani has the capacity to look back 12,000 years in our past while looking centuries towards our future, elegantly and dialecticaly linking technological change with socioeconomic processes. I had never read an author capable of doing this in such a creative and innovative way, other than Marx himself. Perhaps I'm being overly dramatic, but I feel we needed this book. And now we have it, I can't help but simply saying to everyone: you need to read, re-read, and share this book.

5 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Germinal

A theory of communism, but not a Marxist one.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 26, 2019

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I like Aaron Bastani, by that I mean his media presence as I’ve never met him, and I like Novara Media – they have had nothing but a positive influence on left wing views, opinion and broadcasting.

And I like the idea of Fully Automated Luxury Communism (FALC). The case for a communist society that places meeting human need as its priority while saving the planet shouldn’t need making.

So, in a sense, I enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the boundless enthusiasm and optimism. I enjoyed the outline of a society so much better than the present one. Frequently, socialists are challenged to paint a picture of what a socialist society might look like and find it difficult to answer. Now, at least, we can point at this book and say “Something like that”.

But there are problems. The key one being: how do we get to this society? And to that question, there is virtual silence beyond praise for the ‘Preston Model’. Nothing about political parties, organising, how to win people over to FALC.

Bastani also seems to have something of a starry-eyed worship of technology to the extent that he accepts at face value the claims of some technological capitalists rather than approaching their claims critically.

Then there’s the issue of Bastani’s relationship to Marxism. I was under the impression that Bastani was a Marxist, and perhaps he regards himself as one. It really doesn’t show here. On so many issues Bastani’s analysis does not take account of, or gets wrong, basic things from Marx. For instance Bastni asserts that Marx saw technology as the driver of history – he did not. And that leads to the assertion that it is only now that humanity is capable of moving beyond capitalism. This has actually been true for a long time – for instance there has, for a long time now, been enough food to feed everyone and for no-one to go hungry, let alone starve, except that the priorities of capitalism, profit, have not allowed that distribution based upon need to happen.

Bastani’s view of economics is grounded in neo-classical economics of marginalism, scarcity and the price mechanism and not in Marx’s political economy of class, exploitation, competition and the creation and accumulation of surplus-value. In fact Bastani seems to imagine that Marx didn’t support his own law of value. There is no discussion of the state and its role in policing class struggle – this could be that, for Bastani, class struggle doesn’t seem to exist much. So there is no discussion at all about how vested and powerful interests opposed to the abolition of production for profit will be overcome. What we do know is that the only time that the working class has taken power, 1917 in Russia, is dismissed as an “anti-liberal coup”.

So, a welcome book but one that should be read critically.

45 people found this helpful

Dr. Ian Pitchford

Energising

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 15, 2019

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Peter Diamandis meets Karl Marx in this erudite and invigorating account of the emancipatory potential of exponential technologies. Above all Bastani provides a relentlessly optimistic viewpoint and a fascinating sketch of a deliverable political programme to ease the fears of those who have resigned themselves to the likelihood - and perhaps even the inevitability - of a totalitarian dystopia in the not too distant future.

47 people found this helpful

P. James

Asteroid mining is beyond d centrist understanding.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 16, 2019

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Growing up in the Milleni generation this is a refreshing book that seeks to analyse and understand the truth of democratic socialism or progressivsm. It's great not to have to read through dozens of pages of neiliberal lies and stupidity like you find in books byout of touch centrist such as James O'Brian. Love Aaron's work on Novara Media too. New media is going yo save this country.

34 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Dull, disjointed, and full of theory.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 20, 2019

Verified Purchase

I follow the author on Twitter and was curious about the concept. I was hoping this would explain the ideas and rationale. But no. It's full of the idea that "this is an interpretation of Marx, and Marx is right, so this is right ".
And unfortunately it's not very entertaining either. It's a hard slog.

And also - the back cover is impossible to read - a mix of red and black text on red, black and white. It's impossible. It's a metaphor for the whole book.

I wanted to like it, understand, and be inspired, but this wasn't it.

21 people found this helpful

Sam Withey

Interesting book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 13, 2019

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Engaging book full of interesting ideas about the future

32 people found this helpful

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