From Capitalist Realism to Anarchist Idealism, Part Seven
In the last installment of this thought stream, I looked at proposals from a number of Radical Leftists who wish to emancipate humanity via a truly rational application of technology. This means reducing working hours to a minimum (or zero) and liberating people’s time to enjoy their lives as they choose. One way to describe this ideal condition is Aaron Bastani’s phrase: “Fully Automated Luxury Communism.” Now I want to consider some objections to this idea, as well as other perspectives.
We now realize — the long pandemic lockdown drove this point home — that most of the work people are forced to do in this society to survive has no real value for humanity or the planet. In fact, much of it simply adds to the Earth’s ecological burden. In what was previously defined as normal, masses of people drove to offices in their gas-guzzling cars, consumed coffee and take-out lunches from Styrofoam, used paper, plastic, and toner cartridges, to market, advertise, and sell disposable consumer goods. The pandemic seems to have eliminated a lot of this senseless activity. That can only be a good thing.
It does seem that much of what we currently call “work” can be performed by machines, now or in the near future. Self-driving vehicles, for example, would make truckers and cab drivers obsolete. For many people, particularly working…
