[P2P-F] NEW FROM VERSO: INVENTING THE FUTURE BY NICK SRNICEK AND ALEX WILLIAMS

[Anna Harris]

Good question Ursula, and not one I can answer fully. It is the term the authors use on the book cover.
They say: 
"FULL AUTOMATION
With automation.......machines can increasingly produce all necessary goods and services, while also releasing humanity from the effort of producing them. For this reason, we argue that the tendencies towards automation and the replacement of human labour should be enthusiastically accelerated and targeted as a political project of the left. This is a project that takes an existing capitalist tendency and seeks to push it beyond the acceptable parameters of capitalist social relations." (P109)

A vision of a post work society where people's time is free to use as they wish is the basis for this demand. If this becomes a project of the left, hopefully there is more possibility to influence and guide this tendency so that it serves all of humanity rather than just the few. 

Anna

On 2 Nov 2015, at 10:00, Ursula Huws <ursulahuws at analyticaresearch.co.uk> wrote:
> 
> What do you mean by ‘full automation’? Ursula
>  
> From: Anna Harris [mailto:anna at shsh.co.uk] 
> Sent: 02 November 2015 09:19
> To: networkedlabour at lists.contrast.org; p2p-foundation at lists.ourproject.org
> Cc: Ursula Huws <ursulahuws at analyticaresearch.co.uk>
> Subject: NEW FROM VERSO: INVENTING THE FUTURE BY NICK SRNICEK AND ALEX WILLIAMS
>  
> This book offers the framework of building a campaign strategy around the demand for full automation and a basic income for all. This is not a short term demand but a vision of what can be achieved if labour groups come together with academics and supporters to design the future. 
>  
> Personally I believe they have drawn the supporting network too narrowly. But that only makes the case for this campaign even more strongly. I wrote some time ago:
>  
> BIG (basic income guaranteed) may be revolutionary, but it does not need the economic system to change drastically in order to be introduced. In that sense it is reformist, although the effects are revolutionary. 
> The big advantages are that 
> 1. it can be introduced without massive changes to the economic system. 
> 2. It is a very simple idea which can be appreciated by people without much knowledge of the economy.
> 3. It has been tried in pilot experiments, and found to be successful in stimulating economic activity. (Brazil)
> 4. Many economists agree (James Robertson, Jeremy Rifkin, Edward Snowden, Richard Swift) that with technology replacing many jobs that previously required human labour, BIG of some sort is necessary.
> 5. Naomi Klein highlights it in her latest book This Changes Everything, as one of the game changing battles that 'don't merely aim to change laws, but changes patterns of thought.'(p 641)
> 
> 
> The authors are coming to Leeds for an open discussion on Nov 14.
> 
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/events/1624336424483090/
>  
> I believe that this campaign could appeal widely across all political spectrums, and would welcome more discussion on this list.
>  
> Anna
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