This is what I thought when I read the paper: "In essence, Ford is hypothesizing that Marx may just turn out to have been a little ahead of his time when he talked about capitalism’s “contradictions.” Eventually capital will concentrate in fewer and fewer hands (in tomorrow’s case, the robot owners’), and surging unemployment will combine with sagging wages to undermine the mass markets capitalism requires in order to function."
Indeed, that book, at least in the beginning, feels like it is very ressonant with the historical parts of The Capital, specially the ones with more historical description, vol.1, ch.15, "THE DEVELOPMENT OF MACHINERY", specially sections 5, "The Strife Between Workman and Machine" and section 6, "THE THEORY OF COMPENSATION AS REGARDS THE WORKPEOPLE DISPLACED BY MACHINERY" http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch15.htm 2013/1/9 Jed Rothwell <[email protected]> > It is about time this book got some nationwide attention. See: > > > http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/matt-miller-the-robots-are-coming/2013/01/09/caac3e0a-5a57-11e2-88d0-c4cf65c3ad15_story.html > -- Daniel Rocha - RJ [email protected]
