Automation and Artificial Intelligence in the possible transition to a postcapitalist society | Vasilis Lianos

The Centre for Postcapitalist Civilisation presents Vasilis Lianos’s mέta Working Paper entitled Automation and Artificial Intelligence in the possible transition to a postcapitalist society. The paper is accessible here.

DOI: 10.55405/mwp17en

Abstract

Throughout history, technology and its evolution have significantly impacted the
societal modes of production and organisation. The highest rise in technological
evolution has been observed under the capitalist system. Technology has not, as of
yet, proved to be capitalism’s demise. However, some believe that advances in Artificial Intelligence and automation render them radically different technologies to
those of the past and will mean capitalism’s demise and the dawn of a new, postcapitalist era. This paper will assess this claim by looking at historical evidence and
contemporary theoretical and empirical work to argue that, while it is possible that
such technologies are radically different to those of the past and might bring about
the fall of the capitalist system, such claims cannot yet be substantiated due to the
early stage of the aforementioned technologies’ development.

Vasilis Lianos is a graduate student studying for the MSc Political Theory at the University of Amsterdam. He first completed the MA in Global Political Economy at Leiden University and the BSc in Politics and International Relations at the University of London. He likes to delve into the topic of a postcapitalist society in the hope that it might, one day, come to pass