Fully Automated Luxury Communism is something akin to solarpunk by way of Elon Musk hero-worship. The book is full of that characteristic techbro vagueness – a lot of statistics but not a lot of substance. There’s an admittedly rousing sense of optimism throughout but FALC itself is too ill-defined to be enticing and is based largely on hazy promises and platitudes.

Bastani references Mark Fisher’s concept of capitalist realism on multiple occasions yet he himself seems to be utterly taken in by it. He struggles to describe a post-capitalist future which doesn’t resemble, well, capitalism. He pulls a bait-and-switch with communism and socialism, and then he seems to conflate socialism with nationalisation. He doesn’t want to do away with nation states or electoralism or market economy. It’s unclear where exactly communism fits into his idea of FALC.
He’s excessively hung up on this idea that communism isn’t possible yet or wasn’t possible until very recently. The thing is, you need to make it possible. Sitting around waiting for communism to come to you is such a waste of time. I know it sounds harsh to call it counter-revolutionary but I don’t know how else to describe it.

Bastani wants to create a post-scarcity world within a capitalist framework, seemingly not understanding that capitalism is what manufactures that scarcity (or the illusion of scarcity) in the first place. The world produces enough food, for example, to feed the entire population, it’s just that capitalism prohibits distribution which isn’t conducive to profiteering; capitalists would rather withhold or even destroy surplus stock than let it be handed out for free to those who need it. Bastani’s approach is completely backwards.

In general, he has a habit of disregarding anything which doesn’t fit his presupposed conclusions. Technological progress is always presented as fundamentally good – even when he does investigate logistical concerns, he refuses to consider ethics. How can you dedicate an entire chapter to the science of gene editing and not acknowledge the elephant in the room that is eugenics? His naivety would be quaint were it not so insidious.

To be clear, I am not accusing Bastani of pushing some hateful agenda, only highlighting the limitations of his writing. It seems to me as though he either hasn’t given these topics enough thought or he’s choosing not to address scepticism because it would dampen the confidence and cheer he’s trying to inspire. Either way, I’m not impressed.

Fully Automated Luxury Communism does not live up to its title. It’s accessible, I’ll give it that. It’s not the worst book I’ve ever read but, whether you’re a seasoned leftist or someone new to radical politics, it’s not really worth your time.