Fully Automated Luxury Communism

Bookseller recommendation

“In my experience, readers find this book to be inspiring, infuriating, or a bit of both. Bastani takes a big-picture look at emerging trends in technology and argues that we are in a period of cultural and economic change which he calls the 'third disruption' which is as profound and disruptive as the advent of agriculture or the industrial revolution. Bastani looks at trends in areas of computing power, artificial intelligence, space travel, gene editing, renewable energy, and synthetic biology to argue that our future can be filled with sustainable abundance rather than scarcity and collapse. He also argues that who controls these technologies will determine whether our trajectory as a society will bend toward a just utopia or dystopian nightmare. Whether or not Bastani oversimplifies the promise of these technologies (he does), he helps us take a sobering look at the big trends in technological change and their implications for our social, economic and political order and grapple with the consequences. This book was perfect fodder for a book club discussion and I recommend reading and debating its contents with others.”

— Peter • Turning the Tide Bookstore