Luxury Communism

[Anna B]

I heard the phrase 'Luxury Communism' used for the first time on TV this morning (Jeremy Vine)

 

Interesting, because I recently read a very enlightening book called 'Fully Automated Luxury Communism' by Aaron Bastani, which posits that there are enough resources in the world, enough money, and enough technology, to give everyone in the world a very good standard of living without the need to work or at least work full time, leaving the mind and body free to develop new ideas, and to grow and evolve. 

 

A brief summary of a well thought through and researched proposition, which is entirely possible, if the will to do it is there.

 

The very word 'communism' is enough to send people running for the hills, so I was surprised to hear it used in this way.

I wonder if the idea of 'Luxury Communism' becoming a more popular and gaining ground? 

 

Do we want an equal world, or will the Ego always get in the way?

Edited January 4, 2022 by Anna B

[Delbow]

It is a really good book. I would say that because it was me who recommended it to you 😁 

 

But it really is very good, Bastani has upended a lot of old ideas that have been made obsolete by the advances in technology in the latter half of the 20th century, and come up with simple, workable ideas that would make the lives of 99% of people much, much better and more enjoyable. And the emphasis on enjoyment is really welcome, his is not an austere, dour communism, but one that would make life a lot of fun and rewarding.

[Jack Grey]

Im always open to political ideas and ive seen the term Luxury Communism a few times 

 

I started following Novaro Media on YouTube and i realised very quickly that its not for me.

 

Their main motivation is to hate 'The Man' especially the Tories and they have ridiculous fantasist ideas that would never work in the real world.

 

They must know that but like most far left activists they dont seem to care just as long as they feel all warm a fuzzy inside because theyre so clever and virtuous 

[the_bloke]

https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/mar/18/fully-automated-luxury-communism-robots-employment

 

Quote

Eventually, Bastani sees FALC achieving something closer to that — a society with collective control over its own high-tech, work-reducing gadgets. He believes what little work will be necessary in the future, such as optimising 3D-printers and agricultural robots, will be organised much the way editors currently manage Wikipedia — in a decentralised, non-hierarchical fashion.

Seems to forget that these gadgets need to be created in the first place. Are the engineers of the future just going to spend their time 'optimising' existing technology rather than putting in the graft to push technology forward, whilst the rest of society sits around in a state of utopia/vegetation?

 

The humans in Wall-E spring to mind.

[El Cid]

19 minutes ago, Anna B said:

The very word 'communism' is enough to send people running for the hills, so I was surprised to hear it used in this way.

I wonder if the idea of 'Luxury Communism' becoming a more popular and gaining ground? 

 

Do we want an equal world, or will the Ego always get in the way?

Communism on its own would need to become popular first. Does universal basic income work, many dont like it, but the opposition parties seem to.

Young people need a goal to aim for, people get paid double/treble time in order to encourage them to work more. Give everyone a £50,000 salary and no one will want to work more.

What salary would be considered "Luxury Communism", just enough for everyone to buy a detatched house? Who would do the 'dirty' jobs for the same £50,000?

[trastrick]

Just now, Anna B said:

I heard the phrase 'Luxury Communism' used for the first time on TV this morning (Jeremy Vine)

 

Interesting, because I recently read a very enlightening book called 'Fully Automated Luxury Communism' by Aaron Bastani, which posits that there are enough resources in the world, enough money, and enough technology, to give everyone in the world a very good standard of living without the need to work or at least work full time, leaving the mind and body free to develop new ideas, and to grow and evolve. 

 

A brief summary of a well thought through and researched proposition, which is entirely possible, if the will to do it is there.

 

The very word 'communism' is enough to send people running for the hills, so I was surprised to hear it used in this way.

I wonder if the idea of 'Luxury Communism' becoming a more popular and gaining ground? 

 

Do we want an equal world, or will the Ego always get in the way?

The world will never be equal, as long as we have human nature. Fear, hate, greed, envy, lust for power over others.

 

Is everybody equal in the ant hill, or bee hive? Depends if you are happy being a drone, feeding the Queen's offspring.

 

Of course  you could start up a commune. But like the infamous "Biosphere ! and 2" they end badly!

 

Or maybe start closer to home, as a poster pointed out. Give up your spare room to a poor refugee and her family.

 

[Delbow]

2 minutes ago, the_bloke said:

https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/mar/18/fully-automated-luxury-communism-robots-employment

 

Seems to forget that these gadgets need to be created in the first place. Are the engineers of the future just going to spend their time 'optimising' existing technology rather than putting in the graft to push technology forward, whilst the rest of society sits around in a state of utopia/vegetation?

 

The humans in Wall-E spring to mind.

He doesn't claim that we won't need to work at all, just a lot less. Open your mind a bit and read it, there is some genuine new thinking in there, and his analysis of technological possibility was genuinely eye opening for me.

[cuttsie]

There is always some one who wants more than others have , greed always wins that is why communism failed in Russia ,

We now have those ex communist leaders living and investing in London along with the Saudi gangsters ,.

[the_bloke]

1 minute ago, Delbow said:

He doesn't claim that we won't need to work at all, just a lot less. Open your mind a bit and read it, there is some genuine new thinking in there, and his analysis of technological possibility was genuinely eye opening for me.

As someone who works in automation, I can assure you that there is a constant need from the client/customer (and in this scenario, the consumer) to have as much done as possible with a deadline of yesterday. The idea that all this automation just flowers up with little work and just needs some tinkering to keep people happy is bobbins. That's the same line of thought that people have when they see a headline that 'automation will replace 30% of manual work' and they think that equates to all those people being unemployed; there isn't any real world understanding of how automated systems are designed, created, maintained and evolve and the amount of work that goes into it. The more automation the more you need people to create it and maintain it, let alone refine it and push technology forward. Aaron Bastani is a journalist, not an engineer.

 

 

[Delbow]

1 minute ago, the_bloke said:

As someone who works in automation, I can assure you that there is a constant need from the client/customer (and in this scenario, the consumer) to have as much done as possible with a deadline of yesterday. The idea that all this automation just flowers up with little work and just needs some tinkering to keep people happy is bobbins. That's the same line of thought that people have when they see a headline that 'automation will replace 30% of manual work' and they think that equates to all those people being unemployed; there isn't any real world understanding of how automated systems are designed, created, maintained and evolve and the amount of work that goes into it. The more automation the more you need people to create it and maintain it, let alone refine it and push technology forward. Aaron Bastani is a journalist, not an engineer.

 

 

In a non-capitalist system those unreasonable deadlines disappear. And as previously stated, he is not arguing that it results in zero work. There are millions of people employed in perfectly useless jobs who could be doing something useful. Free them of doing jobs that exist simply to make money for someone else, and the burden of useful work can be shared across many more people.