Marx and the Robots: Networked Production, AI, and Human Labour

by Florian Butollo (editor), Sabine Nuss (editor), Jan-Peter Herrmann (translator)

Marxist discourse around automation has recently become waylaid with breathless techno-pessimist dystopias and fanciful imaginations of automated luxury communism. This collection of essays by both established veterans of the field and new voices is a refreshingly sober materialist reflection on recent technological developments within capitalist production. It covers a broad range of digital aspects now proliferating across our work and lives, including chapters on the digitalization of agriculture, robotics in the factory and the labor process on crowdworking platforms. It looks to how 20th century Marxist predictions of the ‘workerless factory’ are, or are not, coming true, and how ‘Platform Capitalism’ should be understood and critiqued. Through rich empirical, theoretical and historical material, this book is necessary reading for those wanting a clear overview of our digital world.

Genres: Nonfiction

336 pages, Paperback

Published February 20, 2022

Reviews

[Frank Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with all anthologies, this is a mixed bag, in terms of focus, coherence, and capacity to inspire. All of the entries are held together, however, by a reliance on Marxian concepts, in particular the impact of technological innovation on the development/contradictions of the forces and relations of production. What's particularly interesting is how the authors not only resist technological determinism, but also thoughtfully consider how "production" has become too narrow a focus in the era of AI, prosumption, user-generated valorisation, etc.

[Nils · Rating 3 out of 5]

Manche Aufsätze sind gut, viele lesen sich aber wegen einer nicht nachvollziehbaren Spezifität eher wie Hausarbeiten.