AI Won’t Lead to Communism

In the Marxian sense, communism envisions a classless post-scarcity society in which AI technology provides goods and services to everybody according to their needs. However, communism is a utopian dream because it cannot abolish the class system without destroying the environment or unfairly allocating societal resources.

I will first clarify the distinction between needs and wants. Needs include but are not limited to what we need to maintain our biological existence. For example, food and water are needed to maintain our biological existence, but our needs consist of more than food and water.

Needs also include any good or service available in such abundance that it can and should be universally accessible to everybody, for one who does not have access to such a good or service will be so deprived relative to society’s productive capacity that they will be incapable of fully participating in it on the basis of equal opportunity. As a society increases its productive capacity, it broadens its conception of which goods and services constitute a need.

For example, internet access is not needed to maintain our biological existence, but internet access is nonetheless a need because a citizen in a 21st century Western society cannot fully participate on the basis of equal opportunity without it.

A want is a good or service that is not available in such abundance that it can and should be universally accessible to everybody.

Now that I have distinguished between needs and wants, I will justify my thesis by showing how communism cannot abolish the class system without destroying the environment or unfairly allocating societal resources.

Consider that any interpretation of a post-scarcity society must adhere to one of the following two statements:

(1) All of the goods or services we want to consume are or will become needs thanks to the abundance provided by AI technology. (EXOR)*

(2) At least some but not all of the goods or services we want to consume are or will become needs thanks to the abundance provided by AI technology. (IOR)*

Luxury AI communists adhere to Statement 1. Luxury AI communists believe all of the goods or services we want to consume are or will become needs thanks to the abundance provided by AI technology. A luxury communist society allocates everybody exactly what they need. All people live a life of luxury.

Luxury AI communism is impractical because it would result in planetary environmental destruction. To provide a luxurious lifestyle for all the people in the world, we would have to extensively increase mining activity to extract the required metals and minerals. In the process, we would destroy the biodiverse ecosystems essential for human life.

Basic AI communists endorse Statement 2. Basic AI communists believe at least some (but not all) the goods or services we want to consume are or will become a need thanks to the abundance provided by AI technology. Some goods or services will remain wants and these goods or services will not be produced or allocated. The class system is abolished because everybody is allocated exactly what they need. Everybody has what they need, but nobody lives a life of luxury.

Basic AI Communism can solve the problem of environmental destruction by limiting what goods and services are made universally available based on environmental impact. Goods and services that cannot and should not be made universally available are not produced or allocated.

Basic AI Communism is not a fair way to abolish the class system. Since AI engineers are the ones who provide and maintain the productive capacity that enables everybody else to secure their needs, they deserve a larger allocation of societal resources. Basic AI communism violates the basic socialist ethical notion that people should be compensated in accordance with their contributions.

If a communist proposes giving AI engineers a greater allocation of societal resources, they are not proposing a communist society, since allocating a larger share of societal resources to a group of people in virtue of their societal role is the essence of a class system.

Communism cannot abolish the class system without destroying the environment or unfairly allocating societal resources. Communism is a utopian dream because a post-scarcity society cannot feasibly abolish class-based hierarchies.

*(EXOR) means “exclusive or.”

*(IOR) means “inclusive or.