Much has been written about the prospects of automation in recent years. While many have raised concerns over the threat of technological mass unemployment, others have anticipated a fully automated communist utopia which will provide material abundance to everyone. (De)Automating the Future (Brill 2024) gathers chapters that critically investigate automation’s ambivalences from inter-disciplinary Marxist perspectives. The contributions raise questions about automation’s affordances for postcapitalism, its transformation of manual and mental labour, and its role in the intensification of class antagonisms and exploitation.<\/p>\n
The book launch will gather the editors and most of the contributors in an online roundtable to provide an overview of their collective work and discuss the challenges and possibilities of technological change while providing the audience a chance to join in on the conversation about the ambivalences of automation and technological change.<\/p>\n