AI, Capitalism, and the Collapse of Industrial Society

Capitalism turns all technological breakthroughs into nightmare fuel. Can artificial intelligence escape its grasp?

Photo by Google DeepMind

The future they promised was sleek — chrome bodies gleaming under manufactured suns, autonomous flying cars whisking back and forth, the Solar System conquered and subdued, post-scarcity abundance, a retro-futurist utopia unmolested by hunger and poverty. Indeed, a world optimized fully, humming with the quiet efficiency of incomprehensible code. Progress was to be a never-ending cascade of algorithmic breakthroughs, each unlocking new frontiers of ease and abundance.

Then, of course, came neoliberalism and the intensification of capitalism’s irresolvable internal contradictions, leading to our current very real dystopia.

But are we back on track now? Can artificial intelligence lead the way when human one has failed? Can we avoid both the corporate Cyberpunk dystopia and the utter collapse of industrial society in the form of climate annihilation and forever-wars?

The promise of utopia

The recent dawn of the AI era isn't yet an invasion; it's a slow burn. Each br…