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Fully Automated Luxury Communism

This book was so interesting. Going into it I didn't know what to expect, I only decided to read it because the title intrigued me, but I'm very glad I did. This book is a manifesto. It was a very quick and easy read, though the reader of the audiobook's intonation bothered me a bit. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in communist theory, even though I don't agree with it's entirety, I think there are some aspects that could be well applied alongside other ideologies.

The author, Aaron Bastani, has a very interesting theory, that the rise of technology will lead to a post-scarcity world where things like universal basic services, such as housing, food, education, and other public services would be free at point-of-use. His theory that things like solar energy, asteroid mining, and veganism will create a more sustainable world, where machines will be doing nearly all work, and where humans will hardly have to do any labour. While this theory is an appealing one in concept, it has a number of flaws, and there are many issues Bastani doesn't address, such as racism. Though I don't think it is necessary to have an answer to every question of inequality, Bastani seems to address none at all.

However, as I said earlier, I do think there are some ideas that could be applied alongside other ideologies, like solar energy, and universal basic services, but these ideas are also not exclusive to Bastani's theory. Overall, this was a very interesting read, and like I said, I would recommend it, but I would also recommend reading this rebuttal from the Anarchist Library. I do not consider myself an anarchist, but I do think that rebuttal makes some good points and points out a lot of flaws that go unaddressed by Bastani. (and they manage to do it in only 5 pages)

Also, yes, I did read this in a single day, immediately after finishing the 35 hour long Che Guevara